A Chance To Be Happy
by Twinwolfsister
Summary: (Under Construction) A selection of individuals from various timelines and stories learn to live together in a village in the realm of adventure. Includes humor, romance, drama, blood, angst a little of everything really. Please read and review! (Multi-pairing) Sasu/Naru/Saku, Saku/Saso, Shika/Oc, Gaara/Oc, Gaara/Zero and more!
1. Zack & Ruby: Saving Him

(**A/N: PLEASE READ**! Here are some notes to make reading and understanding this story easier. This IS NOT a self insert. If you are looking to read about a specific character understand that **Raven IS Sasuke**, **Zack IS Zero** and that who is in what chapter is clearly labeled in the chapter title. Yes there is more than one "OC", this takes place in a Village outside all of the Narutoverse or Vampire Knight Universe. In a village called Yaseigakure, founded on a new planet for the contract survivors as mentioned below.

* * *

**Zack and Ruby: Saving Him**

**Zero/Zack Pov**

I had been here for a few weeks now, the people here seemed nice enough but I was less than thrilled that so many of them were Vampires. I'd had a lifetime of bad experiences with them but during my time as a contract I'd gotten lucky, once. One of the clients I had was a Vampire and actually a decent guy. He had been a friend, once I let him, and there were several here that I could see myself maybe getting along with. I was currently sitting in the room with one that I was a lot less sure of, due to her status as what many called The All Mother. The original template for which the creation of all other Vampires had been based.

"Zack, Zack! Hey are you ok?" She asked.

"Huh? Yeah, sorry I must have spaced out." I responded blankly. Truth be told I was still adjusting to the new name. Being called Zero for twenty one years and suddenly having it changed to Zack, I still wasn't always answering to it. I had picked the name which did help some but it was still strange.

"I've talked with Alucard about it and he thinks it will work."

"Thinks it will?" I asked skeptically.

"It's the only thing that we can think of that might help. I'm just worried that you'll think horribly of me for saying it."

"Not much damage you can do in that regard, Ruby." I said flatly.

I knew I was being an ass, I didn't really care. If she really wanted to gain my trust there were things that I was going to say, if she snapped and hit me or killed me it would be ruined or I'd be dead. I was fine with either really. On the other hand if she could pull it off, if she did manage to gain my trust, she'd be the first ever "Pureblood" to do it.

"Zack, that hurts." She said in a tone that I couldn't help but feel sorry about having said it.

"Sorry." I responded almost automatically.

"It's ok. I know this is hard for you. Will you at least hear me out?"

"Yeah, sure."

"I know that you've been told that I'm an original Vampire. I've existed since life was first created. What I'm offering is to turn you, to stabilize you for good."

I knew I was making a face. That was not what I wanted to hear, "You mean you can't get rid of it?"

"No one can, but I can keep you from ever falling to a level E."

"Damn it."

Getting killed because I pissed some one off, fine, getting killed by an enemy, fine, dying because I fell to level E, no way. I refused to just give up like that. It may as well be suicide and I wasn't going to go out like that, but getting turned into a full Vampire?

* * *

** Ruby Pov**

I knew this was a hard thing for him to even consider. He had a few years left before he would fall, I was making the offer now so that he would have plenty of time to think it over.

"You don't need to answer right away, Alucard and I have figured that you still have three or four years left. Think it over and take some time to come to a decision." I told him gently.

"It's not that hard really." He said. There was a strange look on his face as he spoke now, "I refuse to give up and die as a monster. If there is no cure then I'll have to be turned, so it's really just a matter of when. Are you the only one that can do it?"

"Zack I, yes. There is a reason for that as well. I'm Shizuka's ancestor, I created that line." I said defeated.

* * *

** Zack pov**

I froze. Damn it. That bitch was going to get me in the end anyway.

"Zack, I'm not her. I'm nothing like her. Most Purebloods where you're from are insane and genetically warped from generations of inbreeding." She told me the disgust was clear in her tone she _seemed_ to dislike them_ almost_ as much as I did.

"Yeah." I said distantly, I was blank but my mind was racing. One person who could stabilize me, she was offering to do it, but she was connected to Shizuka. I wasn't sure what I was doing really, I turned my head and pulled back my collar "Do it." She had been sitting across from me. Now her long crimson hair and bright blue eyes were right in front of me, her hand on mine at my shirt collar.

"No." She said softly, "Not yet. You aren't ready. Zack I refuse to ruin you like that. I want to save you, but you must want it first." She removed my hand from my shirt and kept it in hers for a moment. I felt her sit beside me on the sofa. I was too numb to move. Had a Vampire really just refused an open invitation? And what's more, I knew she wanted it.

"Zack take the time you have, think it over. Come to me when you are truly ready, not when you are in this state of get it over with."

Wait, had she really said that she wanted to save me? What the hell was that supposed to mean? I turned and looked at her, eyes full of open concern for me met mine. _'What the hell?' _I thought to myself.

"Yeah, sure." I responded quietly.

She reached over and brushed a section of my silvery white hair back from my face, "So pretty." She said more to herself than to me.

"What?"

"You Zack. Your eyes, your hair, your face. You're very fine featured."

"Oh." My brain was half screaming at me to ask, _'So I'm just a prize to you?'_ But something deeper inside of me twisted painfully at the thought, so I stayed quiet. Her hand gently touched the side of my face, I did not pull away. Her touch did not seem repulsive to me, which was something of a curiosity.

"Zack, thank you for coming to speak with me. I enjoyed this and I hope that we can get to know one another better." She said pulling her hand away.

"Yeah, ok I guess. See ya." I said getting up and heading for the door.

"Good bye." She said pleasantly as I left.

What the hell? I let her touch me? I almost let her… I shook myself mentally,_ 'time for a hot bath and a nap',_ I thought to myself as I started down the hall. '_Maybe I can scrub the feel of her off me' _I shuddered.

* * *

**Well what do you think so far? Is it ok? Too confusing? **

**We are addressing the fact that there are people you may not know and I am working on that as far as that goes. Would you rather have a "learn as you read" take of their pasts such as in Vampire Knight or a "flashback" that describes their past in depth as seen in the Naruto episodes.**

**Zack/Zero will end up in a relationship with: Ruby, Hanabusa, Gaara and Orchid. **

**None are kept secret or hidden from the others and it is all consented to by all parties. **

**Switching:** The process that we call switching is a form of willing possession, by which a being from the spirit or astral side can temporarily take over the body of an individual on the physical level. This is usually only done between Guardians and the person they have sworn to protect when cases of life or death are involved or the preservation of the psychological health is in order, such as emotional or mental abuse. The exception to this being spiritual mediums, who can switch with nearly any spirit, the price for this is the one inhabiting said mediums body will be exhausted within 3-12 hours depending on power level and amount of practice. Kind of like the Yamanaka clan only its reversed, the medium pulling them into their own mind instead of going out into the mind of another.

**Guardians:** Beings from various other realms that have sworn themselves to protect an individual who has certain psychic gifts or abilities.

**The Company**: An organization that specialized in obtaining individuals from specific realms for profitable purposes. They would take people from various books, anime, manga, movies etc, out of their realm and sell them to the highest bidder on a temporary contract or lease lasting anywhere from three months to three years. These contracts are **very** expensive and are powerfully magically binding. The individual under such a contract **must** obey **any** command given by the current holder. The magic of the forced contract will cause extreme pain until the command is obeyed or the magic of it will take over causing the one under contract to loose control of themselves while the order is carried out. **Lifetime purchase** of contracts could be made for exceptionally high amounts of money and/or live trade goods (aka Other highly sought after people).

Through the story you will read about individuals who were rescued from The Company and are now making a recovery in our care. The Company went under once we gave a list of individuals who were being held there to a very powerful friend of ours. He and several of his buddies got together and raided the place, leveled it, took all the contracts that were being held there and took all the paper contracts for individuals that were out on lease, so that when the contract was up they would instantly be transported to the location of the contract, thus ending up safe in our care, then said paper contracts are burned thus freeing the people. If we have a person staying with us they will be the only one, if another from an alternate timeline is found they are returned home if able, if not they are cycled or set up with a different place to live by the god of their home realm.

**Characters who will be seen in later chapters. (*means an ex-contract)**

**From Naruto are:** *Shikamaru, Asuma, Ibiki, *Naruto, *Sai, Sakura, Hidan, Sasori, Tobi, Cat, *Sasuke/Raven, *Gaara, Kakashi, *Neji, *Hinata, Hiashi, Shino, Hana, Ino, Anko.

**From Vampire Knight:** Kaname, Takuma, *Senri, Hanabusa, Yagari/Yashiri, Kaien Cross, Rima, *Zero/Zack

**From our original novel:** Shadow, Ahzri, Alucard, Issabelle, Demitri, Adon, Nick

**From Other:** *Yeshua/chaos, Sett, Kadage, Vincent

**Oc's:** *Asher, *Flower, Ruby, *Trixi, Lexi, Roxy, Orchid, *Tanuki, Kol, Kia, Brace, *Acai, *Amber, *Travis,

*Tsukiyaru, *Hunter, *James, Emily, Ame, Akiyumi, Kirisuna, Bluestar


	2. Zack & Gaara: First date

Zack and Gaara: First Date

I was walking down the hall towards his room. Gaara and I had been together on a contract for the last two years. It had been hard on both of us, but he was definitely the worse off of the two of us. We had at times been forced by the client, the holder of the contract, to do certain things to each other. We had talked some nights when no one was watching. We made sure not to hurt each other if we could help it, made sure not to go too far with one another. We had at times protected each other as best we were able, under the circumstances. We told each other nearly everything. I had cried on his shoulder so many times and the one time I had seen him cry, I was there for him. I had held him that night and eventually he had managed to fall asleep in my arms, sleep was also something that did not happen very often for him.

* * *

***Flashback***

_We had returned to the company from that client once our term was over and within a week I had been shipped out again this time for life. I had been scared when she approached my cell, and told the man she was buying my Lifetime Contract, but at the same time I was relieved. I just hoped this client would be one of the better ones, she seemed strict and cold so the odds did not look good for me. She had jean blue eyes that reminded me of a vampire I had gone to school with once, was this woman a vampire. I actually could not tell, so instead I glared. She looked like she had been expecting my reaction, so I just glared harder earning me a cuff from the guard that would have knocked me to the floor if he had not been dragging me out of the cell. To my surprize, I saw the look on her face darken and I grinned. If looks could kill that guard would have been toast. _

_A snarl sounded from her fishnet covered chest as her hand shot out catching the man by his throat. The voice that slipped over her fangs was smooth, dark, alluring yet still commanding. "Do not presume to touch what does not belong to you."_

'**Why did she care if I was hurt.**'_ What happened next shocked me. _

_Her arm visibly flexed, the muscles rippling under her skin as disturbing and resounding wet c**runch** echoed through the corridor as the vertebrae in the guards neck were crushed in her hand. The thud as the body hit the floor startled me into looking back at her, she looked completely blank again. Looking at the blood on her hand as ran down her arm as if it were something fascinating before giving her arm a sharp flick, discarding the gore from her hand._

_She looked at me again over her shoulder, a calculating and searching gaze. I suddenly felt as if I was being looked through instead of being looked at. Then suddenly she nodded and started walking out of the hall, that look of familiarity crossing her face again. Great, just great. She was a nutcase. _

_I had never had her as a client before, maybe a friend of one of my past clients? I studied her, light powder blue skin with dark blue simple tribal stripes, even on her face. Her mahogany hair fell down to mid back except for the deep blue that framed her face. Sharp blue claws tipped each slender finger. She was stocky, built like some of the athletes I had seen in school. Broad shoulders, good muscle tone, thick hips and legs of a seasoned rider, the only odd thing was for as intimidating and apparently lethal as she was she only stood 5 feet tall. As we approached the front desk she placed her left hand on a pad and signed a paper with her right. The lady behind the desk smiled and nodded, "everything seems to be in order miss, we look forward to doing business with you again!" _

_As we were leaving she glanced back, and grinned maniacally.__"You should train your guards not to touch." _

_Then we left, a feminine voice sounded over the intercom, through the doors behind us***morgue staff to cell 325 for clean up.***_

_ I followed her out into the parking lot outside the massive factory looking company building. I was walking beside her, her arm through mine like I was an escort, hand resting gently on my bent inner arm. I had done that for others before, it was familiar something I knew. As we moved the sun reflected off some of the office windows and into my eyes, my hand came up to shield my eyes automatically, my raised hand or perhaps the sudden movement; causing her to flinch. I knew that reaction, it was seen in a lot of the abuse cases that I had seen, I had seen it with Gaara. I slowly lowered my arm and narrowed my eyes at her, searching her stance. Sure enough at closer inspection her posture told of fear and the apprehension of an impending strike before she once again schooled herself into what must be a mask, fake indifference & confidence. _

_She looked around carefully before turning to me and grabbed my upper arm firmly with a clawed hand unknowingly showing me the feather tattoo's on her forearms. I knew my eyes had widened. _'Shit'_. The holder of my lifetime contract, my newest master and the last one I would ever have, was an Ocean Syren. _

_Whats a Syren? Well in a nutshell it's similar to what you might get if you crossed a Singing Siren and a Harpy, with a sprinkling of anger management issues. _

_I was beyond confused now but didn't have time to dwell on it as I was soon teleported into what looked like a garden. I turned to her questioningly, she grinned like the cat that caught the canary and held my contract in her hand, the same one that had just ended a mans life and I watched in shock as it was incinerated into a fine ash.  
_

_Her now gentle voice barely above a whisper floated over to me, "You are free to do as you wish, you are your own person again..." without missing a beat she was right back to the was she had been. "Please visit the medical wing after this if you need healing, it is just through this door and down the all to your left. Follow me to your new room." She said as she lead me to the other side of the garden and through a hardwood door, then down a hall till we stopped at a light cherry wood door which she opened for me. "This room is yours, decorate it as you see fit. Kitchen is that set of door over there, help yourself. Now if you'll excuse me I have other things to attend to." And then she vanished, like literally vanished. _

_Two weeks later I heard a knock on my door, and was left in shock as Gaara stood before me. He walked in as I stepped out of the way, closing the door. I looked at him, he looked at me his eyes spoke volumes. They had finally done it, they had broken him. Fury and fear were pouring off him in waves as he muttered about, some girl called orchid lying to him. Trying to set him up or something, he seemed so sure. But that didn't sound like her, she had been nothing but kind and honest with me and some of the others. Strict yes but she had never hit or hurt me. Gaara must think she was like the others, faking kindness to gain trust only so they can break it. No, that was not Orchid, she was different. I don't truely trust her myself._

_"I will not let her hurt you Gaara."_

_"They will hurt you..."_

_"No Gaara, I am free. It was destroyed as soon as I arrived here."_

_"So she was telling the truth?"_

_"If that is that what she told you-"_

_"She claimed she would destroy my contract as soon as her boss knew I was not going to Kill her as soon as it was gone."_

_"Would you truely have killed her?"_

_"yes."_

_"Why Gaara?"_

_"I have been caged so long, pushed and bent to be what they wanted, a killer, a soldier, an assassin. I hate her, I hate them, I want to make them bleed, to make them cry. I want to kill them all, I have my sand back, they tried to keep mother away from me but she is with ma again now, I..." _

_He was unstable, mentally unbalanced, perhaps even fractured. He sounded deranged, the sand around me... Sand? Yes, it was crawling up my legs. I had seen him use the sand in once on the television, while I was on a contract. I understood now, he was slipping mentally back into the safety of the darkness. I had to get him out of my room, fast, before he hurt or even killed me by accident. He had stopped talking at my look of fear, following my gaze his eyes widened. The sand eased off._

_"I'm so sorry!" he panicked and next thing I know I am alone in my room, a small cloud of sand flees out beneath my door._

* * *

That was nearly a month ago now.

When Gaara remembered her, Orchid had gotten him to allow her to heal his damaged mind with her skills as a mind mage and a healer, fixing the damage done to his psyche by the monsters at the company and its clients. They share an apartment like room now as she is the only one who can talk him out of his relapses, and she is the only person perhaps aside from myself that he trust.

I knocked at his door and a moment later he opened it.

"Hey." He said letting me in.

"Hi." I responded as I stepped into his room.

He closed the door and we kind of just stood there staring at each other. His hair had always been a brilliant shade of red, but it looked so much better now that he was eating right and beginning to feel safe here. His eyes were a vibrant teal color and more recently they had begun to reflect a light that I'd never seen in him before.

Shortly after she had heal him, he'd been turned into a Vampire, on the same night he had arrived here. See during a previous contract some one had force fed him large amounts of vampire blood, over the duration of the contract, when he was brought here and the contract was broken. It slowly tried to activate, it would have killed him for good since it was reacting very badly with the residual chakra from his former demon. It was also incomplete, being half turned made his situation worse. Orchid had made a split second decision seconds after she realized what was happening to him and used her position as a relatively powerful vampire to overwrite it, in the end it had worked and though turned, Gaara was stable again. It had only worked cause the one whose blood he had been fed, was the one other Orchid had turned, and was still hunting down. A now lethal hunter, who had conned her when she was still young into turning them.

I couldn't fault either of them for it, even though my instincts said I should hate them both, instead I was glad. Orchid had not even _wanted_ to do it, I knew that, she still resented herself for it but had decided she could not lose him again. I have seen her crying about it to this day when she thinks no one is looking, as far as that goes that may be the only reason I did not hate HER for it.

Gaara however was glad, he wanted it, claiming he would have likely asked her soon anyway. Gaara remembered her, from his past way back before the company. It was actually why Gaara was safe here now, you see... she had gone back in to collect some more contracts to free, said she walked into a warzone. Seems the brother she had been searching for had come back from contract with katanas and a kill on sight order, she had paid double his contract cost in full to stop them from killing him. Claiming she was a collector, which brought her to Gaara's cell, she recognized him by the way his chakra felt. They had been starving him to death, it was cheaper than bullets or chemicals.

Orchid had come home with him only to be told she could not free him yet, she was pissed and left to vent. That night she arrived back here to see bad scene in one of the hallways and had put herself between some pretty powerful people when they had made a move to put him down on grounds of irreparable instability. She told them off for not listening to her about trying to touch him. Turned around and talked him down, soothed him, even got close enough to touch him without once provoking his sand defence. Something that had been deemed impossible.

It was why he remembered her. Her actions had triggered memories and he now understood why she had gone so out of her way for him and that she had been telling the truth. A week later they had let her burn the contract.

Even now that he was a Vampire I didn't hate him, I couldn't. We'd grown pretty close while on contract together, now we wanted to see if there was anything between us other than friendship, while outside the confines of the contract. Tonight was our first official date, after him having been here about two weeks.

"You ready?" I asked.

"Almost" he said as he stepped away from me and going to his closet. He pulled out a pair of black open toed shoes and his cloak vest thing. He then sat on the edge of his couch to put the shoes on. When he was done he stood and put the cloak vest on, buttoning it in the front. We left his room together, heading out towards the garden. We had decided not to go too far from the house this time. No one was really sure that public places were really a good idea for either if us just yet.

We wandered through the garden together for a while. It was easy to be around him. Even in silence, it felt like entire conversations passed between us. After quite some time had passed I turned and asked, "Are you hungry at all?"

He shrugged, "Sure."

We went over to the table that was always set out and stocked. We each picked out a few things and then went to find a bench or something. We ended up forgoing any form of seating and instead found ourselves sitting on the soft grass under a large tree near the brook.

"Hey can I try that?" I asked pointing to an item on his plate. He held it for me with his chopsticks while I took a bite, "Hey that's not bad." I said once I had swallowed it. I saw him looking at something on my plate, "Which one?" I asked.

He pointed at one that I had heard some one else call pizza, I picked it up and let him take a bite.

"Hmmn." He mumbled with it still in his mouth.

"What?"

"It's good." He said now able to speak properly.

We sat and ate for several minutes before anything else was said.

"Gaara?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think this could work? I mean us, as more than just friends?" I asked trying not to sound too hopeful.

"I wouldn't mind." He said softly.

I looked at him and with the pale light of the moon I could just barely see the color in his cheeks, "I'd like to try." I told him, "More than this, I mean." I felt his fingers brush mine, where my hand was placed on the grass beside me. I reached for him with that hand and when my hand found his, he laced his fingers into mine. I sighed happily.

"Zack?" He asked several minutes later.

"Yeah?" I responded turning to look at him.

There was a question in his eyes, one that I knew well, but it was mixed with so much uncertainty.

"Gaara, you don't need to wonder so much. I'm fine with this." I said reaching to place my hand along side his face, just as we had always done.

"No, not like this." He said as he gently moved my hand away "Differently, but I don't know how."

"Can I?" I asked.

"Yes."

I moved closer to him and as I wrapped my arms around the back of his neck, I leaned towards him. His gaze softened and he returned the embrace, meeting me in the middle. I kissed him softly and he did not pull away or shudder. That was something we had staged to show the client that we didn't like doing it. Doing otherwise would have seen both of us punished and separated for good. He kissed me back and I sighed lightly. When he pulled back he was smiling softly. That was something I'd never seen him do, it was cute, almost like it was still new to him and I couldn't help but smile back at him.

We sat together under that tree for a long time. I ended up leaning on him at some point and he put his arms around me. We kissed several other times through the night, but eventually I knew we needed to sleep, or at least I did.

"I need to get going." I said gently.

"Yeah, I guess so." He said unwrapping his arms from around me.

We got up and took care of our plates before heading back inside. We walked back to his room and he opened the door. I kissed him and said good night before turning away. I hadn't taken two steps before I felt his hand grasp mine. I turned to look at him, he slowly looked up at me from having been staring at the floor.

"What's wrong?" I asked.

I watched color flush his cheeks lightly as he opened his mouth, "Would you mind, staying with me tonight?" He asked.

"Are you sure? I mean it's only the first night." I said carefully.

"Zack, I'm sure. You stole a piece of my heart that day in the cell. Will you stay?"

"Of course I will." I said stepping into his room.

I knew the day he was referring to all too well.

* * *

***Flashback***

The night before the incident I had found out what the client had been doing to him for the last two months. He had broken down crying in my arms and told me that they were making him relive his past through some kind of spell. I didn't know a lot about his history at that time and it didn't matter. The point was that they were making him relive all the worst parts of it daily, for their own amusement. When they came for him the following day I had put myself in the way and actually yelled at them, "Leave him alone! Just give him a rest."

I had been shoved aside and they took him anyway, they kicked me a few times and left, but that night when they dropped him into the cell with me, I held him that night too. Every night after that I held him while he shook and after a while we started talking.

We were soon comfortable enough with each other that we shared our painful pasts with each other and comforted one another as best we could, after the daily horrors we faced in that place.

* * *

He closed the door to his bedroom and kept my hand as he took me with him over to his simple, double wide bed, which was made up with dark maroon and black sheets. He let go of my hand, I took off my shirt and folded it. He took it and set it on top of his dresser for me. I sat on the edge of his bed and he came over and stood just in front of me.

"Do you want to?" He asked tugging at his shirt, I nodded.

We had always agreed, to ask each other everything before we did anything.

"Go ahead." He said.

I reached for the buttons on the front of his vest, it dropped to the floor a moment later and I slid my hands under the edge of his shirt. I watched him close his eyes and he nodded. I pushed my hands up along his sides. This felt so much better, we wanted to do this, there was no one watching us, it was all up to us now. I gently tugged his shirt off over his head and dropped it to the floor. I wrapped my arms around his waist and pulled him onto the bed. He had one knee up between my legs, while the other was over the outside of my left thigh. I let go of him and leaned back on my hands, his teal eyes were watching me now and just before I closed my eyes I saw him lean towards me. He kissed me gently and I sighed again.

"Zack you need to get to sleep." He said softly near my ear.

"Yeah, yeah, ok." I said watching him get up again.

We both stripped down to boxers and he put his clothes away, while leaving mine on the dresser. I slid under the medium weight maroon blanket and a few moments later he joined me. We both laid down and got comfortable, I found myself yawning soon after. I was facing the wall as I closed my eyes and I felt him move. He put one arm over my body and under my arm, his chest against my back and his legs were just barely touching the back of mine. Before sleep claimed me I heard him say, "Good night, my dear one."

That meant a lot, since I knew that he didn't use terms like that for just anyone. I remembered him telling me once before that he had pet names for those who were precious to him. I was happy and I slept soundly free of nightmares for the first time since I got here.


	3. Zack, Gaara & Ruby: First Date

Zack, Ruby and Gaara: First Date

"Are you sure you don't mind?" Gaara asked.

"Yes, it's fine. I want Zack to feel safe and I know he doesn't really trust me yet." I told the young man with bright red hair.

Zack walked along between us, while I led the way through Centra. It was a busy place with lots to see and do. There were lots of shops and places to eat, the gardens and farms that one could visit to see all kinds of little critters. Some of the shops even offered brief demonstrations on how to make your own carvings, pressed flowers, trinkets and treats. The large portal gates with people going to and from all kinds of places were scattered all through the city, it was called the gate city for a reason.

"Why did you even agree to this if you don't want to be here?" Gaara asked of Zack, slightly confused.

I watched Zack blush but he didn't respond. Zack had been here a little over two months now and he was beginning to see just how different the Vampires here really were from the ones he knew back in his home realm. I knew he wanted to see if I was as well behaved as the others. He'd already resigned himself to the fact that eventually I'd have to turn him or he'd die. As for calling this a date it was because he'd lost a bet with Ahzri. That smart ass of an Elf had bet Zack right before our first meeting that I wouldn't bite him even if he offered it to me. I learned about the whole thing about a week later when I heard Ahzri telling Zack to man up and ask me out even if only the one time. I had scolded Ahzri for setting the poor boy up, but Zack still agreed to do it since he had in fact lost the bet. His only request had been to be able to bring Gaara along, I had gladly agreed to his terms and now a few weeks later here we all were.

Zack took up Gaara's hand while we were walking through the butterfly garden and Gaara looked at me.

"It's alright Gaara. I don't mind."

It was true to some extent, if it made Zack more comfortable or happy then I wanted that for him. My only wish was that I could do that for him as well. As the weeks had gone by and I had the chance to speak with Zack now and then, I began to understand, to believe the pull I felt when I was around him. Alucard and a few of the others suspected that Zack might actually be my long lost soul mate. Of course Zack was unaware of this idea, none of us wanted to say anything just in case we were wrong.

I treated the boys to lunch over at the Inn, after that I took them out towards the companion farms. Companions were semi-intelligent creatures that would bond to a single person for life. If Zack found one he would be able to take it home with him, if not it would still be a nice experience for both of the boys. We were passing the stables when Zack finally spoke, "They keep horses here?" He asked almost exited.

"Of course." I told him.

He blushed again and then, "Can we go have a look?"

"Certainly. Come on the entrance is just around the corner."

I took up his hand without thinking but he let me, while he in turn held onto Gaara. I wasn't running but I kept a fair pace all the way to the open front gate. The boys followed me into the yard and we were met by a kind young woman with long dark brown hair and hazel eyes.

"Hello there. Is there anything I can help you with today?" She asked.

"We'd like to visit with the horses if that's alright." I told her.

"Sure thing. Most of them just love company. Come on, stables and field are this way."

She led the way to the large barn and opened the door to let us in, "Just talk to Heather when you're ready to leave, she'll let you out."

The young lady left us and we started to walk down the first row of stalls. The first few were empty but Zack already looked like a kid in the candy shop. So he liked horses? I would remember that.

The first stall we came to where a horse was still stationed, contained a very pretty cream mare with dark brown hair and points. Zack spent plenty of time admiring each horse as we went from stall to stall. He spoke fondly of riding and the grace that one could only experience from atop a horse. Beautiful and powerful, horses meant a lot to him. Orchid had said something similar once when I found her hiding in this very stables one day not too long ago, they spoke of horses and riding in general as if they were in love, and perhaps they were.

As we stepped out into the pasture, I saw awe cross his face and then a brief sadness flashed in his eyes. It was gone almost as quickly as it had come, so I didn't ask about it. The other girl, Heather was out in the pasture. She came over with a big old chestnut mare and asked if we needed anything.

"Not at the moment, but thank you." I said.

She walked the mare into the barn which was now behind us. There were several mares and young foals grazing around, while a single paint stallion kept an eye on them. The male was a big white horse with dark red brown speckling all along his rear, back and sides. His front was mostly white but his face was lightly freckled. His hair was the same dark color as his speckles and two socks ran up his back legs.

"Wow, he's gorgeous." Zack sighed.

"Firecracker? Yeah, he's a good boy." Said Heather having come back from the barn, "You want to meet him?"

"Absolutely." Zack said.

Heather whistled a very specific short tune and the male turned to look at her. She smiled and he came trotting over to her.

"Good boy." She crooned to him.

The horse nuzzled her shoulder for a moment, "These folks wanted to meet you boy. What do you think?"

Firecracker looked at us for a moment and then made his way over. He looked at me and let me pat his muzzle briefly before he moved on to Gaara, who he snorted at playfully and nuzzled briefly. He then stood there staring at Zack. Zack reached out and patted the side of his neck and the horse nuzzled Zack's shoulder. The horse looked at Heather and snorted and made a light whining sound.

"Ok, ok I'll ask him." She said to the horse, "Do you know how to ride?"

"Me?" Zack asked.

Heather nodded.

"Yeah."

"Want to take him for a spin? He'll introduce you to his ladies."

Zack actually laughed at this and I knew I was going to find a way to hear that sound again someday, "Yeah sure, I'll go."

"You two want to go?" Heather asked.

"Sure alright." I said.

It had been a long while for me but I knew how to ride. It was Gaara who stood there looking a little lost.

"I can't." He said.

"Zack, Firecracker do you mind taking him with you?" Heather asked.

Zack looked at the horse who nickered pleasantly at him, "Yeah, that's fine. Come on Gaara, you can ride with me."

Heather led us all back into the barn where she handed Zack a saddle, "Can you get that on him?" She asked.

"Yeah, no problem." He said.

Heather went and got the pretty cream mare we'd first seen when we had come in, "This is Honeybee. She's a sweetheart, I'll get her saddled up for you if you like."

"That would be wonderful." I said while I returned my attention to Zack.

He really knew what he was doing. I watched while he got the saddle over Firecracker and began strapping it down. He pulled tight in all the right places and patted the horse as he worked his way around him. He was done in just a few minutes, adjusting the bitless bridle so it sat more comfortably on Firecracker's head.

A short while later Heather tapped my shoulder, "She's all ready to go." She said handing me the reigns.

"Thank you." I said.

Zack was standing with Firecracker and Heather briefly checked the saddle, "Great job. Yeah, you're good to go."

Zack helped Gaara up in front of himself and I got myself situated with Honeybee. Firecracker led the way out of the barn and into the field. Zack kept Firecracker at a light trot for Gaara's sake and the horse obliged to listen to him. He really did take us into the heart of the herd wandering the field. There were certain mares that he stopped by and nuzzled before moving on. Once he seemed satisfied that we had met them all he let Zack trot him around the field.

"You want to take them for a short run?" Heather asked coming out into the field.

Zack spoke to Gaara, "Would that be ok with you?"

"Yeah, I kind of like this." Gaara told him.

"Over this way." Heather called as she stood near a gate in the field. Once we got nearer to her she explained, "We have a set trail that they're trained to follow. You set the pace but they know the way. You'll see it too though, it's all marked out by neon orange tags on the trees as you go. Ready?"

"Yes." Zack said.

"Yeah." I responded.

Heather opened the gate and stepped aside. Zack urged Firecracker into a trot out of the gate and I was hot on his heels. Once we caught sight of the first marker we urged the horses into a smooth fluid canter. The trail was wide enough and I brought Honeybee up alongside Firecracker. I looked at Zack and he smiled at me.

"This is awesome!" He said.

"Yes it is." I agreed with him.

Even Gaara had a light smile on his face as the breeze tore through his hair. A full fifteen minutes later we could see the trail was heading back towards the barn and pasture, we slowed the horses back to a walk and went in through the same gate that we had left from.

"How was it?" Heather asked coming over to us.

"It was wonderful." I said hopping down off of Honeybee, "She is a darling." I said patting her muzzle.

"That was great." Zack said, "What about you Gaara?"

"It was nice." He said, "Maybe we could do it again sometime."

"I should teach you how to ride." Zack said getting down.

Zack helped Gaara down and we led the horses back into the barn, where we helped get them unsaddled. Firecracker gave Zack a brief but friendly good bye before trotting back out to the pasture, Honeybee nuzzled my shoulder then followed him out.

"Well thanks for coming by. I hope we'll see you again, but I've got to be closing up soon so I can get to dinner on time." Heather told us.

"Thank you for having us." I said shaking hands with her.

"I will absolutely be back again." Zack said as we headed out.

Once we were out on the main road again I turned to Zack, "I'm glad you enjoyed that."

"Yeah, I did. We should all come out here again sometime." He said.

He, wanted me to come along again? That made me happy. I took the boys to a nice dinner at a little café in the main part of town, before taking them home for the night. We were standing at the door of Gaara's room, which had recently been turned into more of an apartment, Zack was staying with him now.

"Good night Zack, Gaara." I said.

"Good night, Ruby." Gaara responded.

"Thank you, Ruby." Zack said quietly.

"Oh, it was my pleasure. Just try not to bet against Ahzri anymore, ok?"

"Yeah." He said looking at the floor.

He blushed for some reason but before I said anything he wrapped his arms around me, hugging me. I lightly returned the embrace and when I felt him move I let go.

"Good night." He said blushing again and darting through the now open door.

I looked at Gaara concerned, "He'll be fine." Gaara informed me.

"Thank you. Good night." I walked away down the hall, quite happy about how the whole day had gone.


	4. Zack & Ruby: His Vow

Zack and Ruby: His Vow

** Ruby: **I was sitting in my room reading after my six hour training shift had ended, there was an unexpected knock at my door. I set down my book and got up to answer it. Opening my door I was quite surprised to find blue lavender eyes looking at me from a smooth face framed by silvery white hair.

"Zack, what brings you to see me?" I asked.

Up to this point I always had to ask for him to come and see me. All of the dates we'd been on over the last five months since our first had been planned by me. He was much friendlier towards me these days but this was the first time he'd come to me without my asking.

"I, just had a talk with Orchid and realized, I wanted to talk to you." He said.

"Certainly, come on in." I said stepping aside to let him pass.

I closed the door and went over to where he now stood in the middle of my room. It wasn't much but it was comfortable. The walls were a medium shaded hardwood, the carpet was a nice plush in deep crimson red, which looked nearly black at times. My sofa was a four seat, soft black that formed to the corner and my bed was a modest double wide, four post made up in dark red, black and violet.

"Is something wrong?" I asked taking in his unusual posture and slight nervousness.

"No, not wrong. I…" He stopped seemingly lost for words.

"Zack, would you mind sitting down with me?" I asked gesturing to the sofa.

"Sure."

I gently put a hand behind his upper arm and led him over to it. He sat right beside me and leaning forward folded his hands in front of himself. There was obviously something on his mind but I wasn't going to force it out of him.

** Zack:** I knew she was waiting for me to speak up. That was something I'd come to admire about Ruby over the months, she was patient and never forced me into anything. I'd come here to talk to her about the fact that eventually she'd have to turn me, but now that I was here I wasn't sure I really wanted to say it at all, never mind how to.

"It's nice that you came to see me. That makes me very happy." She said smiling as I looked at her.

"Yeah. I should probably do that more often, huh?"

"I won't deny that I'd like that, but it's up to you."

"Thanks." I said.

She really did want me to be happy, I'd known that for the last few months now and I appreciated it more than she currently knew. She had taken it upon herself to invite Gaara to go with us on the next three dates that she planned. She almost never touched me, unless she got excited and momentarily forgot about my aversion. Even then it was only that she grabbed my hands or hugged me very briefly. I had hugged her once, after that first date and not since. I had also made the offer to start going on dates with her alone when she was talking about plans for out 5th one, she had asked me if I was sure I was ok with that. She had succeeded in gaining my trust already and I hadn't even realized it until a few days ago.

"Ruby, I've come to a decision." I said slowly, leaving out that it was orchid who had made me realize that I had made that decision long ago, or I would have been dead already. Now it was just a matter or when, but I needed motivation to get myself ready, something Gaara was trying to help with.

"Well, I'm glad that you've taken some time to think it over, but you're not ready yet." I chuckled,

"I wanted to talk to you about setting a date for it, a goal in a way."

"Oh?" She asked, sounding genuinely pleased that I was thinking it through.

"The class I've been taking in Crescent City, you know the Vampire class?" I still could not believe I was actually doing this on my own.

"Yes, the one that Alucard has been teaching at Dragonstone Academy. What about it?"

I took a deep breath, "Finals are about five months away now. If I can pass I want you to turn me." I said quickly, trying to get it out before I backed out. Gaara and Orchid had both been helping me in that respect each in their own special way, Orchid had actually taken me hunting with her once at my request.

** Ruby:** This was a big step for him. I liked the fact that he had a goal in mind to make this work. My only question was whether or not he'd be ready by then.

"Zack are you sure about this?"

"Yes. I need a way to make myself realize that it is going to happen. I need to think about it with a more definitive deadline than just three or four years from now."

"I still won't do it if you're not ready." I told him, "Even if you pass."

"That's fine. I'll make sure I'm ready." He said firmly, seeming so sure yet his hands were shaking slightly at the idea.

"Then if you pass…"

"No, when I pass. When I pass the Vampire class, I will come to you and ask for you to turn me. That is my vow."

"When you come to me, I will turn you _only_ if you are truly ready, that is my condition to your vow."

We sat silent for several minutes. He leaned back finally and sighed, like he was relieved to have gotten it all out. He turned his head and looked at me, "Gaara and I have been practicing." He told me quietly.

"Practicing?" I asked.

"I let him bite me sometimes."

"Oh?" Well now that is good news.

"I'm doing better with it. Doesn't even seem to matter where anymore." He said touching the left side of his neck gently.

I knew that was where _she'd_ bitten him. This was huge progress for him. I smiled, "I'm glad it's going well for you. How is Gaara?"

"He's good. He likes helping Orchid with the paperwork at the school. Her and I have a equestrian show soon with the schools team, she invited Gaara I want you to come watch." He asked

"That's good, and of course I will come." I knew he had forgotten to tell me when, but I knew Orchid would know and I needed to speak with her soon anyway.

"I should probably get going." He said sitting forward again.

"Ok." I said trying not to sound too upset that he was leaving so soon.

He turned and looked at me, "Ruby?"

"Yes?"

He blushed, "Can I… uh… never mind." He looked away.

Before he got up I grasped his arm and gently turned him towards me. I placed one hand under his chin and drew him towards me, "Of course you can." I told him.

His eyes softened, the prior shock that I'd touched him vanished and he kissed me. He was so gentle and uncertain as I kissed him back. He pulled away a moment later and I could see him blushing. I let go of him and he got up to leave, I stayed sitting on the sofa.

"See you later." He said as he opened my door.

"Of course, Zack. Come and see me anytime you like."

He left and I touched my fingers to my lips. I was very happy and looked forward to his next visit.


	5. Zack, Gaara & Cross: Cross' Arrival

Cross and Shadow: Arrival

** Cross' Pov**

I'd known about the existence of other realms for a while so when I learned that Zero had been sold to one of these other realms by our own Hunter's Association, I was determined to find a way to reach it. It took me years but eventually I found a way in some of the old texts that the association had on the subject. Upon my arrival to this new realm I sensed Zero in the area that I was in but his exact location was seemingly hidden. As I searched the area I picked up on the presence of several other very powerful Vampires. Could there be Purebloods here? They seemed as though they could even be stronger, I had to wonder if perhaps there could be a race of older vampires here. I drew my sword and kept it ready just in case, as one was coming my direction.

"Hey you there! Who are you?" Asked a man with long dark hair, he was clearly tense and on edge.

My senses were screaming at me, **'He's a vampire.'** I took a moment to order my thoughts, "I'm looking for some one, perhaps you can help me?"

"Put the sword away." He said seemingly calm, but I did in fact pick up the hint of fear in his tone, that was when I caught the rose colored glow in his eyes,

"Not going to happen." I said firmly, "Tell me where Zero is."

"Zero? Oh you mean Zack. You can't have him back."

"I've come to take him home, now get out of my way!"

"Sick bastard, no way!" I charged forward and was a little surprised by how well he reacted. He was fast and seemed to have formal training. This was not going to be easy, but if I got Zero out of here, it would be worth it.

* * *

** Shadow's Pov**

Something was wrong. I had sensed someone new in the area but as of yet no one had made a report that they had found anyone. I wondered if perhaps it was an intruder. We had actually had several 'Clients' attempt to reclaim prior contracts from us. Of course not one of them had succeeded but that did not mean that it was time to take it easy. The uneasy sense that I had suddenly increased and the scent of blood reached me. It took only a moment longer to recognize it as one of our own, it was time to go.

It didn't take long to find the source of the problem. One of the guys who was assigned to watch the perimeter was engaged in heavy combat. The man that he faced had long sandy almond colored hair and was wielding a long broad sword. He had managed to run our guy through once already and it looked like he was about to manage it again.

"Stop!" I called out to the both of them as I approached.

He ceased his attack and I caught the other guy up in my arms, as he fell "Sorry Shadow, he's a bit much for me." He said to me in weary breaths.

"Clearly, though I am not upset with you. You fought well." I looked at the other man, "Who are you? What do you want with us?"

"I am here to bring Zero home, my name is Kaien Cross."

"Cross?"

"You've heard of me?" He asked in surprise.

"Zero, or rather Zack, has mentioned you to me before. You took him in after the attack on his family?"

"Yes." He said seemingly relieved that some one knew who he was.

"Follow me and put that damn sword away while you're at it. No one is going to attack you while I am with you."

* * *

** Cross' pov**

He seemed sincere so I did as he asked and sheathed my blade, it helped that my senses were telling me that I was far out matched with this one and finding Zero was more important than fighting him right now. He also seemed to be unafraid of me or the weapon I carried, if anything my sword seemed to piss him off. What an odd reaction, hunter weapons were capable of inflicting a kind of instinctual fear in vampires so the fact that he would react so differently surprised me. I followed this strange and powerful vampire while he carried the one I'd injured. The extra weight didn't seem to hinder him at all as we walked quickly along.

He led me into what looked like a warrior's encampment. There were several vampires that stared at me as I followed him but as he had said none of them made a move. Several who were not vampires nor hunters were among the crowd. Did they know? Were they safe? I kept following him, the one I'd heard the other man call Shadow. He led me into a medical tent where he set the injured vampire on one of the exam tables. Another vampire, this one with long snow white hair came over to us.

"What happened to him?" The man asked to Shadow.

"Our new guest here." Shadow said indicating me briefly, "His sword caused the damage, it does not appear he can heal it on his own."

"It's a hunter's weapon, that wound will take a while to heal but it will heal." I offered.

"Who is he?" Asked the white haired one, wait this vampire was a doctor? How... was he safe?

"Says his name is Cross."

"Kaien Cross?" Shadow nodded, "Well then you must take him to see Zack."

"Not before I get him cleared, Ahzri."

"Right, right of course. Well go on then, both of you out. I have work to do and so do you." Ahzri said as he gently shooed us out of the med tent.

Shadow sighed, "Come on, let's see about getting you cleared to stay."

"Stay? Here you mean? Oh no, I just came to get Zero, then I'll take him home with me."

He laughed lightly, "You can't go back." He spoke as if he were used to this reaction from people.

"Why not?" I asked mildly irritated that he should think that such a thing was funny.

"Because you're dead."

"I most certainly am not!"

He stopped and standing there looking at me his eyes narrowed, "Really? Then what's happened to your heartbeat? It's stopped and I should know."

I knew that he meant because he was a Vampire he should be able to hear it, my own eyes narrowed back at him in frustration but I put my fingers to my throat… nothing? I tried my wrist… I couldn't find it, well damn.

"Did you really think that you could cross from one realm into another without paying a price for it?" he asked of me.

"I see, so that's what it meant." I said quietly thinking back to what I had read. Our ancient texts described a way to exit the realm, which was how I'd gotten here. It also spoke of a price to be exacted at the time of crossing. It had been so vague and when I crossed I felt fine and so had thought that the record had been mistaken or put there to deter people from making the attempt. Of course now it made perfect sense.

He started walking again and I continued to follow him. I saw another vampire staring at me, there was a young lady standing beside him who was not a vampire. I did a double take. Was she holding his hand? She was!

"What are you staring at?" Shadow asked as he glanced back.

"I keep sensing vampires but there seem to be no hunters."

"You are only the second hunter to ever arrive here. Zack is the only other and he seems to be in some strange sort of half state."

"No other hunters? These others that I've seen who are not vampires, do they know what they are walking around with?"

He stopped walking again, "What, they are walking around with? Try who, not what."

I put up my hands defensively, " Sorry I didn't mean it like that, it's just that where I'm from most people aren't even aware of the existence of vampires. Do they all know?"

"Yes. We don't hide here."

"They are unafraid?"

"The ones who are afraid are left alone. We are civil towards them and do not bother them without reason."

"There was a Vampire and a young lady holding hands back there…"

"And?"

"Does she know? Is he controlling her? Are they together?"

"Yes she knows, no he is not and none of my business. Come." His tone was cold but not angry, we started walking again.

He led me inside what appeared to be one of the larger of the camp tents. The man sitting at the table in the middle of the room was quite something to look at. His long hair was an almost luminous white color, his eyes were a kind of white blue. His clothes were all deep red, gold and black. He was writing something on the piece of paper in front of him.

"Did you find our visitor?" He asked without looking up.

"Yes." Shadow responded.

"Is he a Contract?"

"No."

"An intruder then?"

"That remains to be seen. It's Kaien Cross Sir, or so he claims." The man looked up at me from his work at this, I watched his eyes widen slightly as he took in my features, "So it is." He said as he stood. He came around the table and stood in front of me, "What are you doing here, Cross?"

"I came to get Zero." I answered honestly.

"Zero," he sighed shaking his head, "Of course you would."

"Sir?" I asked now confused and unsure what else to call him.

I watched in awe as his form shifted entirely, waist long jet black hair, deep back-lit violet eyes. He looked a lot younger now, his face was smoother and I could not deny the resemblance. There were books containing a few passages about the man who had brought six of the vampire progenitors into our realm. The rest of the Pureblood lines came into existence on their own, but none were as strong as the lines created from those six outsiders. There were brief descriptions, even a few sketches of the man who had brought them and I knew that the man before me was the same one. He had been described as very powerful but had not created any of the lines himself. He left the realm quite soon after and many years later the six outsiders did as well.

"You're not supposed to leave the realm. That knowledge was only for the six progenitors who were not from your realm. There were instructions explaining this."

"I'm sorry Sir, parts of those records have been lost or destroyed over the years." Why was I suddenly so afraid of upsetting him? His tone had not been harsh.

He sighed again, "Will you stay Kaien?"

"I'm dead aren't I? Shouldn't I move on or something?"

"Everyone here is dead. It will take centuries before I can safely cycle you back into your own realm. In the meantime, feel free to enjoy this way-point in between if you will."

"I think I would like that, it seems very interesting here. I'd still like to speak with Zero if I may?"

"Zack," he corrected frimly, "has been through a lot. Are you aware of The Company?"

"Barely, they had a lot to do with the paper trail that I followed to find out what had happened to him."

He changed back to his other form and sat at his table again, "Take a seat, you're going to need it."

I grabbed a chair from near the door and that was when I noticed, Shadow had left at some point. I sat across from him at the table, he sighed and folded his hands over the papers in front of him. He proceeded to tell me what The Company was, what they were doing and a little bit about the horrors that Contracts faced while they were there. He seemed to try and keep it brief while at the same time making sure that I was up to speed. I couldn't say that I blamed him, even the brief summary he had given me was enough to make me cringe.

"I don't mind if you go and speak with him but please keep in mind that he is in the midst of a very difficult decision. We have a vampire here who is capable of stabilizing him for good, but it must be his choice."

"Of course but what will happen if he…?"

"He will fall and if that happens he will have to be destroyed. Rest assured that we are doing all we can to encourage him to go through with getting stabilized without pushing him into it."

"Getting stabilized, what does that mean exactly? Things are so different here."

"He will become a full vampire. He will not be in danger of falling ever again so long as he stays on a proper feeding schedule."

"Feeding?"

"Correct, the blood tablets are nearly useless here."

"How do they…?"

"They do not require so much blood that it is lethal, so not to worry. We also have experienced vampires who teach the rookies proper methods and such."

I breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed this was Zero's, uh Zack's best chance to survive his condition, something I had been searching a long time for "I'd be happy to help encourage him to go through with this."

"Excellent. I'll make sure that we get a tent set up for you before the night is out. You can go, I believe Shadow is just outside, he'll take you to see Zack."

I got up to leave and he stopped me once more, "You're going to have to leave the sword with me Cross."

"Why?"

"You're dead, the weapon must go back to its own realm where it can be passed on to another hunter."

"Oh, you can get it back to them?" I asked as I took it off, grateful that I was finally free of my old friend.

"Yes, I'm not the god of your realm for nothing."

"Oh, I see. That does make sense now that I think about it." I responded leaving my sword beside the table before I walked out.

Shadow did meet me just outside the tent, "Come, I'll take you to see him." I followed him again and noticed that several of the others I had seen earlier seemed more relaxed. Some glanced at me but they were no longer staring. The sword, I realized, it had put all of the other vampires here on edge. They had been watching me for signs of danger but now it was like I was any other person.

He led me through a large hardwood door and down a flight of stairs. He knocked at one of the many doors in the hallway that we now stood in. A moment later the door was opened by a male with bright red hair and teal eyes that oddly enough seemed to have no pupil. He visibly tensed seeing Shadow at his door.

"Is Zack here?" Shadow asked.

"Yes, I'll get him." The red head said in a soft voice, as he tried to close the door. There was clearly a lot of tension between these two, the read head almost seemed to be afraid.

"I'm not staying. This is Kaien Cross and he's here to see Zack."

"You want me to let a stranger into my room?" his incredulous tone was clear.

"Cross took care of Zack for a long time, they are not strangers. I have work to do so I'll be going." Shadow said turning and walking away down the hall. The young man in front of me glared at Shadow's retreating figure but once out of sight he seemed to relax a little, "You might as well come in then." He said to me in that same deep soft voice.

"I can wait right here if you'd prefer." I offered, as he clearly had trust issues with people.

"No point, this is Zack's room too, come on." He said opening the door wider and letting me in. I stepped in and he closed the door. The living room I was now standing in had a sandy cream colored carpet, the walls were a deep rich red hardwood and all of the furniture appeared to be cherry wood.

"Gaara, is everything alright?" Called an all too familiar voice coming towards the room from what looked like the kitchen. He reached the doorway and stood there staring at me. Same silvery white hair, the eyes looked a little more blue but other wise he looked the same, he even wore similar clothes as he had back then.

"Cross?" He asked stepping forward.

"Zero, uh I mean Zack, hi."

He smiled at this, "You of all people. Of course you would find a way. Did they say you can stay?" His tone held more emotion than I was used to, he was happy to see me that much was obvious.

"I am indeed."

"Awesome. Gaara this is Kaien Cross. I've told you about him haven't I?"

"Yes. He's, from before?" Was the boy always this careful with his words?

"Yeah," Zack said with a heavy sigh, "Anyway, it's great to see you again. Why not come and join us? Would that be alright with you Gaara?"

"It's fine. You hungry?" Gaara asked of me.

"Am I interrupting your diner? I can come back-"

"He's as bad as we are." Gaara said to Zack who just chuckled.

"Yeah, but he wasn't trained to be that way." Zack said

I knew that he meant the Contract and I decided that I would talk with him about that matter some other time, "Sure, I'll join you." I said more confidently than I felt. I followed them into the dinning room and took a seat at the table. Gaara sat across from me while Zack went into the kitchen. He came back a moment later carrying a serving tray with three bowls on it. I noticed that it was one of his favorite dishes inside, he'd made traditional Japanese tomato soup tonight. It brought back memories of when I used to cook for him and Yuuki.

Zack sat down beside Gaara, who looked at him for a moment. "Go ahead Gaara, he's not going to mind." Zack told him with a gentle tone that I'd never heard him use before. Gaara picked up a spoon and started to eat and I briefly caught a certain look of tenderness on Zack's face. There was definitely something going on here. I could already tell that Gaara was a vampire, so why was Zack staying with him? In fact the look on his face just now, the tone of his voice with him, I had seen similar from him before.

I had known about his feelings for Yuuki, even as hard as he had tried to hide it from me, then she had gone and broken his heart. It had hurt me as well, but at least I had known that it was a likely outcome even if I too, had hoped. Yet here he was using that tone, that look, with this vampire, a boy no less. "Zack, perhaps it's none of my business but are you two… together?" I asked gently.

They both blushed and looked at each other, Zack wore that same soft expression and then he looked at me nervously, "Y-yeah, we are."

"That's wonderful!" I exclaimed picking up my own spoon and digging in.

"You're not upset that I'm-" Zack began but I cut him off before he could finish that ridiculous sentence.

"Don't be ridiculous. As long as you're happy, I don't give a damn about the rest!"

"Thanks Cross, that means a lot to me." He said starting in on his own dinner. We enjoyed a nice chat through dinner, during which I learned that Gaara really was always that soft spoken and that they had met while on Contract together, a topic we quickly changed. Zack told me about the vampire who would be turning him and the fact that he had already vowed to do it, as long as he passed the vampire class he was currently taking.

"Zack I can't help but ask, I noticed earlier that there are three bedrooms in this apartment. Yet there seems to only be two of you here..." It was actually Gaara who replied to me.

"The other room..." he seemed to hesitate for a moment "belongs to my girlfriend, she is busy at the school at the moment."

"Girlfriend? But I thought..." Zack shot Gaara a look. What the hell was going on here? "Can some one explain please..."

Zack sighed and seemed grateful when the front door opened. "Good you can explain it!" I looked and sure enough there standing at the door staring in shock was a syren. She looked strait at me and her eyes narrowed slightly as she cocked her head to the side seconds later recognition flashed in her eyes and she relaxed a bit.

"What am I supposed to be explaining exactly?"

"Well you see, Gaara here kind of just told Cross that you were his girlfriend, except we also said earlier that Gaara and I were together." I was expecting a fight, or something. Her reaction however was not one of those somethings.

"Yah, and?" She said walking into the kitchen to get herself a bowl before sitting down next to Gaara, as if this were commonplace.

"Orchid, he is new remember." Zack seemed to have to remind her.

She just looked at me the next words out of her mouth made me drop my fork. "Archaic Vampire Law 206, part a, paragraph 3. I think that about covers it?"

How the hell... "How?" I demanded, putting the other two on edge.

"Cross what the hell is she talking about? And what is with your tone, remember she lives here not you." He said defensively, he had never taken that tone with me before reminding me of where I was.

"Sorry Zack, what she is talking about is an old vampire law that I saw while searching through the old archives for a way out. It said that a vampire may take as a mate or consort whomever they should so chose, as long as all current standing participants are knowledgeable and of consenting age. With no preset limitations aside from the aforementioned. Including but not limited to; race, gender or aesthetics."

"Orchid, can you translate that into plain english for the rest of us please?" said Zack sarcastically.

"Multi-ended relationships, among consenting adults, regardless of race, gender or physical appearance." She said smiling again.

When we were done and had said our good nights, I headed back to the camp to find my tent. Zero, now called Zack was in what seemed to be a loving relationship with a vampire who was dating a syren who, if I pushed hard enough, I could also sense both vampire and were-_something_ in. People here knew that vampires were among them and it didn't seem to bother most, it seemed the same with the were's. Even the vampires and the were's seemed to be on friendly terms. I had been in the wrong place all this time, I'd died only to find my dream come true.

* * *

**aesthetics:** a set of principles concerned with the nature and appreciation of beauty, esp. in art.

**aforementioned: **denoting a thing or person previously mentioned.

**consort:** a wife, husband, lover, or companion, in particular the spouse of a reigning monarch or aristocracy figure.


	6. Orchid & Ruby: Inconceivable Thoughts

Ruby and Orchid: Inconceivable

I was upset and maybe just a little panicked. How could I think such a thing? Surely Orchid would be furious with me, I had seen how protective she could get. I hated myself for it, but it hadn't been intentional. Was I emotionally distraught? It seemed likely. Adon was kind enough to let me switch with her so that I could speak with Orchid more easily. I had to tell her, it was the only thing I could see as even beginning to correct my thoughts.

"What's wrong?" Orchid asked as soon as she knew the switch was complete.

"It's inconceivable, the thoughts in my mind this past week. How could I?" I knew that I was near to crying.

Orchid let me cling to her. Arms wrapped comfortingly around my shoulders, would she still when she knew? Would she push me away? I had to…

"Zack has been a little more distant for a week or two. You see Gaara started to see him a bit less, telling Zack that he should come and see me."

"Why would he... nevermind, I know why. He thinks he is getting in the way of you and Zack." She said a frown on her face.

"Instead it has only caused Zack to become more distant. He hides away in his old room when he's not training. Hardly anyone sees him now, it's been five weeks already."

"So that's what has you so upset." She said rubbing circles on my back as I continued to cling to her.

I shook my head as the first of my tears began to fall, "No that's not it. I mean yes it upsets me greatly but… Gaara, I thought to hurt him, to kill him even, to remove his influence from Zack. T'was only for a moment but there it was burning itself into my mind, I'm so sorry."

She grasped my shoulders and pulled me away from herself, forcing me to look at her, "Ruby, did you do it? Did you hurt my Gaara?" her tone was gentle, but firm. However the concern was evident in her eyes.

"Well no." I stammered.

"Then why are you apologizing? Zack is meant to be with you, him relapsing like this is hurting you. If you really thought that getting rid of Gaara would help, you'd have done it already. You know, deep inside that it would only hurt Zack and I. The fact that you didn't act on it proves that." She hugged me again tightly to herself, I felt her shudder and could feel that as gentle as she was the idea of me hurting Gaara had actually bothered her. The fact that she would put that aside to comfort a friend, once she knew the boy was safe, spoke volumes to me.

She continued "He had a nightmare, Ruby. A little over a month ago. It was about Shizuka who then turned into you. He knows better but it has him spooked." She said into my ear softly as my head rested on her shoulder.

I dried my eyes as I took in what she was telling me. He didn't hate me, he was scared. Gaara wanted him to talk with me about it but Zack wasn't sure how, "I should speak with him."

Orchid nodded, "It's probably for the best since it looks like he's too scared to come to you on his own."

"You said that he and I are meant to be together. Has Alucard shared his suspicions with you then?"

"Yes and while I believe him, I knew it for a fact long before he spoke with me on it." She said her voice trailing off into a whisper at the end.

"What do you mean?"

"I've felt it before when I'm around the two of you, and though it took a little while, I finally figured it out. In one of my past lives, when I was with Yashiri, Zack was there as well. We had taken him and his brother in and though I loved him I knew, I always knew that his true mate was still out there. I could feel you searching when I turned him, and I knew I was just keeping him happy and safe until you arrived. Even if I didn't know who exactly you were at the time. We got a letter one day from a wandering Vampire, saying she wanted to visit with us."

"Oh my- That was you?" I gasped, not liking where this was going at all.

"Yes. Yashiri and I sent the reply telling you that we'd be delighted to meet you. But before you arrived, Yashiri woke one night, he was out of his mind. By the time I got to him, Zack and I were the only ones left alive. Unable to raise a hand against my mate, I did the only other thing that made any amount of sense at that moment, I put myself between Yashiri and Zack and told him to run. I had hoped that the shock of killing me would snap him out of it and that Zack would survive, but obviously it didn't work out that way." I was near to tears again this girl had died at the hands of her mate in an attempt to save mine, I remembered arriving to the aftermath of that carnage.

"Nothing would have." I told her softly, "I'd seen it once before as well. A family of Vampires I had intended to visit, slaughtered days before my arrival. Your family wasn't the last either. It took three more times before I finally realized that I was the one causing it to happen. It was part of my curse in those days, to be alone and wander like that."

"I'm glad that no longer holds any sway over you."

"Yes, I have Nyx to thank for that. You, you tried to save him for me, and kept him happy until the end, thank you."

"You're welcome, Ruby."

"I see your point about my thoughts towards Gaara, but the fact that it even crossed my mind bothers me. I will keep an open mind going forward, but until I can assure myself that I will not harm a member of his house, I will not accept Alucard's offer to merge my house with his."

"I understand. Now you need to go talk to Zack, while I go talk to a certain red head of mine."

"Please be gentle with him, he only thought to help."

"I know, but Zack needs him right now and backing off like this isn't doing either of them any favors, I bet you Zack thinks he upset Gaara somehow."

I nodded and let myself fade into the background of Adon's mind. Now I was off to find Zack and set things right.


	7. Orchid, Raven & Asher: Coming Out

Orchid, Asher and Raven: Coming Out

** Asher:** I was switched out with Adon at the moment and sitting on the blue loveseat in her art room talking with Orchid. My boyfriend, Flower and I had been picked up by this group about a month ago for myself, three weeks ago for Flower. I was glad of it, The Company had been horrible. These people had taken us in, we had our own rooms, fresh clothes and food, our contracts had been destroyed, we were free now.

Flower had been permanently altered thanks to all the shit that had happened to him at The Company and at the hands of various clients over the years. I had been lucky, being a Vampire my biggest issue had been starvation, which wouldn't kill me even for as much as it sucked. Flower was worse off, though so far he seemed to find it less problematic. Flower is male, or he's supposed to be, that is the gender he was born with. Thanks to an excessive overuse of sex change potions and/or spells too close together over the course of some 30 odd years however, Flower was left able to change his gender at will. Pretty cool really, so why am I bitching? His hormones are totally screwed because of it. He's constantly over emotional and sensitive like a woman who's pregnant. He may or may not be sterile, we haven't checked yet. On top of all that, piss him off or hurt someone he cares for, and well you're already dead, you just don't know it yet, but I love him anyway.

"Hey, Asher you paying attention over there?" Orchid asked pulling me back from my musings.

"Yeah, I'm still here." I responded, to let her know I hadn't just up and left by switching or something.

"So did you have any other questions?"

I may have only been here about a month but there was this one guy who I had an eye for recently. I'd thought he was cute when I first saw him. His smooth face wore an expression of neutral to I'll kick your ass on any given day, shoulder length jet black hair and dark ash colored eyes that did this amazing turn red thing when he was training or angry. I had sparred against him for training a few days ago, he was human or so they told me. He had kept up with me for damn near five hours and I'd been able to see that eye thing of his up close. It had a unique pattern when it changed like that, there were three darker red tear drop shapes resting just inside the color part of his eyes. He was cute, he'd impressed me during training not something that happened often, and I wanted to know if I had a chance if I decided to ask him out.

"Do you happen to know a guy named Raven, who's running around here?"

"Yeah, he's my brother actually."

"Really? Awesome! What do you think my odds would be if I asked him out?" She grinned ear to ear at this and I couldn't help but think that I'd been wrong, "What? No?"

"You do realize that he is like 90 percent gay, right?"

"Really?" I asked, knowing my face had lit up. I had kind of though that he might be which was why I was even bothering to ask to begin with. Now I really wanted to find out more about him.

"I've actually caught him staring at you ever since training the other day."

"Is he pissed?" I asked, seeing as how I had actually beaten him during the last hour of that match.

She giggled, "You want to get him to like you? Beat the shit out of him during training, pick him up and then teach him how you did it."

I chuckled, "I can arrange that."

"He's not going to say yes if you ask him out though."

"Damn." I said looking at her for explanation.

"It's just, well he'll be scared. Thing is back home where he came from, being gay was a death sentence for himself and anyone who had known and didn't rat him out. Maybe you can help with that, since it's not an issue here."

"I will certainly try." I told her, "So if you'll excuse me, I have someone to track down."

"Asher?"

"Yes."

"Break his heart, and they won't find the body." She said her voice cold, and eyes hard. She was like Flower in that sense, I knew she was. I had seen her training with Shadow yesterday, and decided not to make her an enemy.

"Wouldn't dream of it." I replied honestly.

"Good, you can find him on the obstacle course." She replied, that smile back on her face. One that I noticed, never seemed to reach her eyes.

She smiled and I faded to the back of Adon's mind, headed off through the garden going out towards the training grounds.

** Raven: **I was in the middle of running the obstacle course again, I knew someone was coming. The high level vampires around here often didn't bother to suppress their energies like my sister did, whatever that just made it easier for me to pick up on them. This one was off to my right, standing there watching me it seemed.

"What do you want?" I asked casually, listening carefully.

"Just enjoying the show, Raven."

It was Asher, I could tell by the sound of his voice. I'd met him for training a few days ago. I'd originally felt pretty good about keeping up with a high level vampire for almost five hours, then in the last hour he completely trashed me. He'd been fucking toying with me before.

I scowled at him, "Fine whatever." I said continuing on to the next post, dodging the kunai that the pressure plate triggered with ease, the subtle pressures and sounds of air currents of the were like a second language to me, one I knew by heart.

"What was that for?"

"Training."

"What? You sore about losing the match?"

"No, I don't like being played." I told him.

"Oh, I hadn't meant to. I just figured to take it easy since you are human."

"Yeah, keep reminding me. Humans are weak, fragile little things compared to you, jerk." I shot off resentfully, landing on the beam and bolted down it as the plates triggered the damn rotation that my sister Orchid had added when I complained it was too easy. I knew he was watching me. I launched off the end of the section and landed on one of the horizontal beam stairs that came next continuing on.

"You want a rematch? A real fight?"

This actually caught me off guard just enough that I had to stop moving before I went over the edge of the beam I was on, "You serious?" I asked eyes narrowed in his general direction, "None of this holding back until the last minute shit?" A hot shift in the air pressure told me I had to duck to avoid one of my sister's programmed fireballs, I had been still too long.

"Yeah sure, why not?" He said nonchalantly, though I could tell he meant it.

I finished the course and came down to where he was standing on the sideline, "Shake on it?" I asked holding out my hand.

"I have a wager to make with you on it."

I withdrew my hand, "Such as?"

He remained silent for a moment, probably thinking about his choice of words for this. His energy fluxed and I knew he'd made a decision.

"If you win the match I'll teach you some of my tricks."

"And if you win?" I asked darkly knowing it was a likely outcome whether I liked it or not.

"I'll still teach you a trick, but only the one. Aside from that I want you to come on a date with my boyfriend and I. It will just be dinner, nothing more."

I knew my eyes were wide with shock, "What the hell makes you think I'd do something like that?"

"You are scared about it." He said quietly.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"Raven, I'm a Vampire, an emotional one to be specific, I can sense the fear coming off of you. It's just a dinner date, Raven."

"Leave me alone." I said firmly. I heard him move and I backed up before he touched me.

"Easy Raven, I wouldn't hurt you. Not like that, training is one thing but…"

"Why would you even want a date with me?"

"You're cute for one thing and you impressed me during our last match."

"Alright, but I'm a guy."

"So what? Raven it's alright, really. You don't have to hide it here."

"Shit. Who told you?" I demanded, I was pissed and I could feel that the anger had triggered my eyes.

"Well she more confirmed my own suspicions than actually told me."

"Damn it, Orchid!" I steamed.

"Do you still want a rematch?" He asked.

"Damn it." I reluctantly held out my hand again and we shook on it.

"How do you do that?" He asked as he let go of my hand.

"Do what?"

"Act and move the way you do, even though your world is all dark? And no, Orchid did not tell me."

I had to admit that I was intrigued that he'd figured it out, "How did you…?"

"Vampire thing. Well some of us can tell. It usually makes hunting easier when we can pick up on stuff like that. Of course most aren't so cruel as to pick on the blind. Though I doubt they'd find you easy." He laughed.

"Yeah, so when do you want this rematch?"

"How about tomorrow?"

"Sure. Well see you."

"Later Raven." He said as I walked away. Orchid was so going to get it.


	8. Raven, Flower & Asher: Dinner Date

Raven, Asher and Flower: Dinner Date

I was excited and nervous about the dinner date that Asher had set up. I wasn't thrilled with how he'd done it, but a bet's a bet, I guess. It's not like Raven had to take him up on it. I was helping Asher to set the table, something in the cabinet shifted and tried to fall on him, I instinctively reached out and grabbed it with one of my vine like tendrils. Asher took the pan for me and said, "You may not want to do that in front of him."

I knew what Asher was getting at. I was a bit of an oddity, a plant like humanoid kind of being. We weren't sure what Raven would think of me as it was, knowing that I had tendrils which could reach across a room might make him nervous, so Asher was just letting me know to keep it to myself for tonight.

Asher put the pan away and we finished setting the table. I was getting the baking pan out of the oven, when there was a knock at our door, Asher went to answer it.

"I'm glad you came." I heard Asher say.

"I wouldn't back out just because I lost. Besides, it's just dinner." Said a voice I presumed to be Raven.

I liked the sound of his deep, almost sulky voice, "Well come on in." Asher said near the door, "By the way I didn't get Orchid into too much trouble for that the other day did I?"

"She got what she deserved, but she'll be fine." Raven responded as he stepped inside.

I put the baking pan up on the counter to cool for a little bit and headed towards the door to the dining room. I peeked around the edge of the open doorframe to try and get a look at him, hopefully before he saw me. He had long dark hair and a smooth face, his eyes looked like darkened ash, he had a decent build too. Very cute, I thought to myself. His eyes swept over me and I ducked back to the kitchen side of the doorframe. Did he see me? Did it matter? I would be sitting at the table with him shortly.

"What was that?" He asked Asher.

"That would be my boyfriend being a shy little goofball. Come on out here and introduce yourself why don't you?" Asher called in my general direction.

I sighed, well better get it over with, I guess. I stepped out into the dining room and walked towards him. His eyes were fixed on me and did not seem to waver from my face or maybe my chest, I couldn't tell.

"Hi, I'm Flower." I said holding out my hand to him, just as Asher had taught me so many years ago.

He took my hand, "Nice to meet you. I'm Raven." He said politely.

His gaze never left my face. Did he think I was odd? Pretty? Ugly? I needed to get my mind off of it and Asher provided my exit.

"Shall we sit down and eat then?"

"Sure."

"I'll go get it." I said heading back to the kitchen.

"It smells good." Raven said as I heard a chair move.

"Flower makes a very interesting macaroni and cheese dish." Asher told him.

Oh, why did he have to tell him that? I was nervous enough already. I grabbed a spatula out of the drawer and picked up the pan. I set it down on the table and began dividing it into squares to serve. I couldn't tell if Raven was looking at me or the food, but I asked for his plate anyway. I served a square onto it and asked for Asher's plate. When we all had our piece I sat down, I watched with great apprehension as Raven began to take a bite.

"Is that, tomato?" Raven asked after a second bite.

"I told you it was interesting." Asher replied.

"Is it horrible?" I asked more nervous than I had been all night so far.

"Are you kidding? That's amazing! I never would have thought that cheese could make my favorite food taste any better." He said and then stopped suddenly turning back into the more stoic version of himself from before, "It's good, Flower. Thanks."

"I'm glad you like it!" I said excitedly before digging into my own food.

"So Raven, meet me at training ground five tomorrow and I'll teach you one of my tricks as promised."

"So you are going to teach him after all?" I asked a little surprised that even though Raven had lost the match, Asher would still help him out like that.

Asher shrugged, "He impressed me."

I happened to catch from the corner of my eye that Raven missed his glass when he went to reach for it. Briefly I saw frustration narrow his eyes and then he found the glass and picked it up. Something was piecing together in my mind. Raven had impressed Asher? He almost never seemed to focus on anything directly, he had missed his glass and then been frustrated by it.

"Asher, you beat up a blind guy!?" I exclaimed, incredulous that he'd do such a thing.

Raven dropped his fork on his plate, Asher laughed and I was left confused.

"You didn't tell him?" Raven asked reaching for his dropped fork.

"I wanted to see how long it would take for him to figure it out on his own." Asher said with a light shrug.

"Asher that's mean!" I scolded him.

"What? Not telling you?"

"Well yeah, that too but no I meant…"

"Don't worry about it." Raven interrupted, "I've trained like this for a long time. Even fought real enemies, I'm fine."

"Well I guess if you're ok with it." I conceded.

"Do me a favor." Raven said without turning towards me.

"Sure." I responded.

"Don' feel sorry for me. You'll just piss me off. I can sense it from you now that you know."

"Sorry, I'll try not to."

"Thanks."

"Here's an idea. Flower why don't you take him on in a match? You'd be able to see just how good he really is." Asher put in.

"But I don't want to…"

"He can fight?" Raven asked.

Now it was my turn to be a little miffed, "Yes the damn plant boy can fight!"

"Plant boy?"

"I… oh… crap. Yeah, I'm part plant but we don't even know what kind."

"Well that explains why your energy seems so strange to me."

"So is that how you do it?" Asher asked.

"Do what?" Raven questioned back.

"You never did answer me the other day. How do you act and move the way you do when your world is all dark?"

"Oh that. Yeah that is part of it. I can usually sense people's energy when they're close enough to me. Everything else is my sense of hearing and, or pressure changes created when people and objects move, including very specific movement patterns for people."

"That makes a lot of sense. So what makes Flower's energy so strange?"

"I've never sensed plant folk energy before. It's kind of all over the place."

Asher and I exchanged glances, we both knew what Raven was picking up on with me.

"I didn't mean to come off that way, Flower. I've just never seen you at training so I figured you couldn't fight."

Asher chuckled, "He doesn't like to be violent."

"Why's that funny?"

"Because Flower is one of those exempt from training."

Now Raven was looking at me and a very strange smile crossed his face, "This I have to see."

"Fine I'll do it, but only the once." I told him firmly, I was not thrilled with this little set up of thiers.

"When?" Raven asked sounding almost excited.

"Why not tomorrow?" Asher suggested.

"Sounds good to me, right after you teach me that trick." Raven said to Asher

"Fine, alright. But really just this one time." I insisted.

Exempt from training, it meant that I'd done so well during the training exam to determine partners, that I didn't have to show up for regular training like the others. Asher had told me that if I did really, really well they wouldn't make me fight the others, so my first match had ended in twenty minutes. Apparently that was unheard of with Ahzri. I had healed him after so that he wouldn't die, because my poisons can kill dead men, and Shadow had asked me to go against him without using the poison. He had called that match about an hour later and told me that I had earned the exempt status.

We finished dinner and Raven left, when the door was closed, I turned and punched Asher's shoulder.

"Ow."

"Pain in my ass." I told him.

"I love you too."

I smiled and he wrapped his arms around me, eventually we finished cleaning up before heading off to bed for the night.


	9. Gaara & Orchid: Seeing in Full Color

Gaara and Orchid: Full Color

Gaara: My awareness was returning, sleep was wearing off and I could see light filtering into the room through my still closed eyes. I rolled over and my hand tapped the wall. Wait wall? The only wall near my bed was behind the headboard. I opened my eyes slightly, yep I was staring at an off white colored wall. I must have sleepwalked again, I thought to myself as I began to feel more awake and found myself borrowing Adon's body. Which inevitably meant that her girlfriend was asleep next to me. I sighed in frustration. Great, she and I got along okay but it was still awkward to wake up next to her like this. Especially seeing as how it often put her in a bad mood for the remainder of the day. Which then makes Orchid skittish, always expecting a fight to break out.

She of course chose that moment to roll over and put one arm over me. Should I wake her? Probably not, she's not one to take kindly to being woken early. Why does she feel smaller today? I asked myself noticing different body weight than what should have been there. I moved the blanket and looked at the arm around my waist.

'What the hell, that's Orchid's arm.' I thought as I saw the light skin and freckles, and the overlay of her Cheetah folk astral form. I turned over, yep that's Orchid asleep next to me. Why? Nevermind, of course. It's Saturday, which meant that Adon's girlfriend had left early today and Orchid would have spent the night on Friday. She must have climbed into bed when the other girl left, taking advantage of the chance to sleep in a real bed. I kissed her forehead and sleepy eyes opened to look at me, she withdrew her hand and rubbed at her eyes.

"Morning, my dark one." I said to her, my voice deeper than Adon's even down here and even retained some of its usual course sound.

"Gaara?" She asked still clearly half asleep. "Mmm." she mumbled and buried her face under my chin nuzzling my chest like that cat she was.

I nodded lightly, she was getting better at figuring out which of us was switched out, at least with some of us. Some of it was sensing, some of it was watching or listening for character quirks. I was laying on my back at this point, Orchid slid her arm over me again and I happened to look up along the wall beside me.

There was a large dark teal and black painted wooden butterfly hanging there. I'd always kind of liked it, the colors seemed sharp and vibrant. A realization came to me then. I'd been seeing colors like this for two days now, did that mean that my eyes were done color adjusting? I'd lived in a world of black, white and grey my whole life. Very few people had known, it wasn't a hindrance to everyday life, so no one brought it up. It was an odd genetic abnormality from my homeland found in those with teal colored eyes like mine. It's very rare and so largely unstudied. The god of my home realm, who is a good friend to Adon and Orchid, had seen fit to correct my vision without altering my eye color. The only difference would be a more clearly defined pupil than before. The process had taken several attempts just to get it to take, once it had it was very slow going. At first everything looked very pale and washed out, like viewing the world through tissue paper. As weeks went by I did eventually notice slight changes, certain objects which were previously seen as muted reds were more vibrant, magenta and yellow had entered my awareness of colors, taking over what had once been shades of off dark and light grey. This was all done very slowly to give my eyes and brain time to process each change without causing damage. As well as to give Orchid and Zack a chance to teach me what the colors were so I didn't seem incompetent.

I had been told by war after the surgery. _"When the color depth remains the same for three straight days, you'll know that it's complete."_

Today was the third day and the color pigments were the same as the last two days. I turned to look at Orchid quickly, the movement catching her off guard.

"What's wrong?" She asked as I stared at her.

"It's all in full color now." I told her in awe as I felt a light smile play across my face.

"That's great." She said hugging me, I could feel her smiling against my chest as well as the pure joy radiating through the sire bond I had with her.

I was happy, the world was so different in color, I was going to make sure that I saw plenty of it. Soon she lept out of bed tossing a black tank top and khaki pants at me, she knew I prefered these to the black ones. She was muttering to herself faster than I could catch, something about going for a walk and stuff about a garden... I raised and eyebrow at her as I crawled out of bed and slipped the pants on. She turned and saw my look, she just got this Cheshire Cat like grin on her face.

"I want to take you to the store to help me pick up some things, then we have a garden to care for; weeding, watering and the like. We also need to rake the driveway, your going to love it we get to play in the dirt under the sun!" I just laughed, she had me there. I did miss Suna the heat there was so much nicer there not suffocatingly humid like it was here. But I would take humid heat over cold or dark in a heartbeat. I also missed the fact that I was never for want of sand to defend myself and my precious ones, something that was a little better now that Orchid and one of the shinigami had removed the spirit of my mother that had been trapped in my sand, so they let me have it back. Orchid even told me of somewhere in Crescent City I could get mithril dust to add to it to make it stronger.


	10. Kakashi, Orchid & Raven: Finals Failure

Kakashi, Orchid and Raven: Finals Failure

**Kakashi Pov **

The school here was pretty amazing, they had their own ballroom which was currently all spruced up for the finals test tonight. I was here as a guest to get an idea of what to expect since I would be taking the class as soon as school began again next year. The people around me were a mix of various kinds of vampire and non-vampires who were interested in learning more about the race or what it meant to be one. I was still dealing with the repercussions of my perhaps too fast decision to be turned by my new girlfriend. It was a choice that I still didn't regret but I was learning that I had made the choice too soon. There were other questions that I should have asked before I went through with it, oh well live and learn, hindsight is twenty-twenty after all.

This event was a formal dinner and dance, a perfect way for the vampires to show just how much they had learned from the class. The non-vampires who were part of the class had been paired up with a vampire and given a set of instructions to follow. These instructions ranged from being the perfect dinner date for their vampire partner to intentionally causing a scene that their partner would be expected to handle or fix. I'd been warned that some vampires were more strict and or formal about how they took care of an issue.

I had been warned that the worst I could expect to see was a student getting slapped for an extreme breech of behavior by the partner who was correcting them or taking care of the issue. During real events among the stricter more traditional vampires houses there were times when one might expect to see someone killed if the situation called for it but those were extreme and rarely ever were offenses taken to that level. Alucard had assured me that such extreme measures would not be an issue tonight since this was in fact a school event and therefore other non-class individuals such as myself had been invited to observe and get a feel for things in a controlled environment.

I had come in alone and already given my regards to Alucard and Ruby, now I stood over near the snack table while the rest of the guests and class members arrived. I watched and soon a pattern began to emerge. Those who were vampires gave a very formal greeting to Ruby and Alucard, while the non-vampire partners gave a slightly less formal greeting. There eventually was a third group which consisted of vampires who came in and gave a formal greeting followed by hugs and casual conversation, when they stayed with Ruby and Alucard I realized they were the teachers of another of the vampire classes being offered at the school. When all of the expected people were accounted for the announcement for dinner was made and people started to filter into the dinning hall in the next room. I found Zack, Gaara and Raven and stayed close to them as we made our way in, they were all a part of the class and though they were a little more formally dressed than I was it made me feel a little less out of place. I sat next to Raven at the table while Zack and Gaara ended up several seats down from us.

"Thanks Kakashi." Raven said to me once we were seated.

"What for?"

He gently nodded his head towards a girl just a few seats away on the other side of the table, one of his fan followers I guessed. She wasn't bad looking with long medium brown hair and hazel green eyes, but I knew that Raven didn't have much fancy for most women, least of all those who acted like fan-girls. The girl was busy talking excitedly with another girl beside her, the other one had short dark hair and an eye color that I couldn't make out from this distance and angle. Dinner soon arrived in the form of silver serving trays that were set in the middle of the table, the lids were lifted and taken away. The choice of dishes was astounding, everything from mashed potatoes to roasted meats, stews, fish, soups, salads, fruits and baked breads. Not knowing how to react myself, I waited for Raven and watched him. Several moments passed and then there was movement father down the table, the tension that seemed to have been building lifted and people began to reach for the dish nearest to them or asking their neighbor to pass something.

"What was that pause all about?" I asked Raven while I helped myself to the beef roast in front of us.

"Waiting for the teachers to be served first. They all had dinner plates that were pre-made and set aside for them in the kitchen, we had to wait for those to be brought out to them."

"How interesting, you really have learned a lot from this class then?"

"Yes, it's been a huge benefit. I don't like some parts of it but most of it is bearable." He said taking up his fork.

"The girls?"

"Yeah. Most of the time it's not so bad, but there's this one who 'out ranks' me so I have to be nice to her, she creeps me out."

"Which one?"

"Same one."

I looked back at the girl with long brown hair, while Raven started to eat. She was still talking with the girl beside her, hardly paying us any mind at all. I started to eat as well and enjoyed a pleasant conversation with Raven through dinner. When we were nearly done I asked, "So who is your human partner for tonight?"

"I don't have one. Putting anyone with me would have been stupid, possibly even gotten them killed."

"Raven." I chastised thinking he meant that he'd sooner kill them than put up with one of them.

"Not me," he said catching my tone, "Them."

"You really think that they'd kill each other over it?" I asked a little skeptical, were they really that bad?

"They've had to be stopped during class practices a few times, so yeah."

"So what is your test for tonight then?"

Raven smiled, "Issabelle is going to ask me for a dance."

"Issabelle? Isn't that…?" Issabelle is one of Alucard's lovers, Alucard is a very powerful and very old vampire, who just happened to be teaching this class.

"Yep."

Soon after that dinner was dismissed and once the teachers had filed out of the room everyone else got up and filtered back into the ballroom. Alucard seemed to have disappeared but Ruby, Issabelle and Demitri were all standing together near the front entrance from the dinning hall. A grand stage was now visible behind them where before it had been curtained off, a gentle soft music was being played by the band that seemed to be made up of skilled students, and then people started going quiet. Whispers ran around the hushed room but I could only catch pieces of what was being said.

"Isn't that…?"

"Why is she…?"

"Is he smiling…?"

"What gives her the right…?" this was one of those two girls from dinner I noticed.

"Is he leading her…?"

I finally caught sight of what was going on through a break in the crowd. Alucard was back and with her arm laced through his, Orchid was smiling as she was escorted into the room by him. They joined the rest of the high ranking vampires near the stage and Orchid greeted each of them in the way one would an old friend, while being greeted and welcomed in return. Alucard asked her for a dance, which she accepted, which just started the rumor mill up again. I saw Issabelle start forward through the crowd, people stepped aside for her as she made her way. She was after all a member of Alucard's family, one of his lovers and she was a teacher for the other vampire class. Raven stayed put as she approached and he looked only slightly nervous as she reached him and smiled.

"Raven would you be so kind as to share this dance with me?" she asked sweetly.

"I'd be honored to." He responded like a true gentleman, as he offered her his arm. I smiled to him as Issabelle laced her arm through his and led him away. Other students bowed lightly as they crossed back towards the front of the room.

"That's so cute." Said a voice beside me. I turned and found myself looking at a young lady, I instantly recognized her as the girl from the table that Raven's fan girl had been chatting with all through dinner.

"I thought for certain that you were going to be the one to ask him for a dance." She sneered gently.

"It's part of his test." I replied

"Oh, so you don't go that way?" How to answer that one? Raven and I were in fact dating but did he want his classmates knowing? She didn't wait for my answer though, "So who is **_your_** date tonight?" She leered.

I now recognized the behavior, she was flirting with me, "I'm not in the class."

"I know, but who are you _with_?"

"I… **_my mate_** couldn't make it tonight." At least now she knew that I was taken.

"Oh, that's too bad. Would you maybe share a dance with me?" she asked echoing Issabelle's words eerily.

"Thank you, but I'd rather not." I told her politely, to me the dismissal was clear.

"Awe, but you looked so lonely over here now that Raven is gone."

"I think that it might upset my mate so I'd really rather not." Dammit woman go away... she was being quite pushy and I didn't like it.

"Who is your mate anyway?" She said as she suddenly grabbed my arm, "**_I_** wouldn't leave you all alone at a dance like this." I looked up as a flash of movement caught my eye behind the girl and saw Orchid talking with the girl who had been bothering Raven during class. If she would just look over here for a second...

My vampire instincts were still new to me, but there were certain things that just kind of come to a vampire all on their own. Was she hinting at what I think she was? It sounded like she was talking about taking over my mate bond or something. I hadn't been allowed to bring any kunai with me tonight, but I was not weaponless and my instincts were screaming at me to put this upstart in her place. I flicked the file in my mouth to a more usable position. I could feel orchid heading this way, but could not tell if she knew or not, I could not take the chance.

"I can do better than a mate that can't even be bothered to show up for a dance." I could sense Orchid had stopped moving after that statement and some of those around us had started whispering quietly and moving away, why?

She still had my arm and I felt her stance and grip change. She was getting ready to drag me off, the file was between my teeth now.

"Kakashi? Is everything okay over here?" I heard as Orchid came to my side, oh thank god!

"Orchid, how nice to see you again." I said, my tone and body using signals left over from my anbu training to convey my desire to get away from this girl, to my surprise Orchid replied with a simple affirmative gesture.

Orchid was now standing in front of us looking at the girl who still had my arm, her tone sharp and cold "Do you really think that is appropriate behavior considering that he has a mate?"

The girl did not let go as she responded defiantly, "His mate isn't even here." Oh boy... if the fact that the once whispering girls had gone silent was anything to go by...

"That does **not** give you license to act on permission that was never given." Orchid's tone and posture was threatening, an under tone in her was certainly telling the girl to let go of me **or else**.

Raven reappeared at that moment, likely having sensed his sister taking off her energy dampeners which causing her true capabilities to be known. "Kakashi, Orchid is everything alright?"

Then he noticed the tension in me, he offered me his hand and when I didn't take it, he realized that it was because I couldn't. He knew that I was uncomfortable and wanted out, I wonder if he could sense who the girl was "Miss Orchid?"

"Yes?" she asked trying not to snap at her own brother, a testament to her current mood, my mate was her best friend and she was seeing this as a territory infraction.

"May I take Kakashi with me for a dance?"

Orchid softened slightly for a moment and looked at Raven, "Of course you may." There was some amount of relief evident in her tone.

"Excuse me." I said to the girl.

She finally let go of my arm and I moved towards Raven. As I took his arm and we moved away I heard Orchid speak in harsh tones to the girl, "Alucard will hear of this and you will fail this class regardless of prior marks, understand that if this had been anywhere else I would have killed you for your transgressions. Good Night." Orchid growled at anyone who got to close as she stormed away.

Raven kept me close to him for the remainder of the night, which thankfully passed without further incident. I noticed that girl and the one who had been bothering Raven were also missing, as was Issabelle.


	11. Raven & Asher: The Rescue

Asher and Raven: Rescue

** Raven Pov**

It was the day after finals, which I was happy to say I passed with decent marks. I was back in Crescent City heading towards the school to collect the few things that I had kept there during the school year. It was a pleasant enough day, I could feel the sun on my skin as I walked down the street. People were walking by, talking, I could here shop keepers talking with nearby customers, a few kids ran past me laughing as they went. Sometime later I was still a few blocks from the school, most of the shops were behind me now. This part of town was a little less crowded, the houses were farther apart due to the small farms they each kept. I heard a bird chirping in a nearby tree but it went quiet as I stopped to admire its song. '**Huh, must be shy'** I thought to myself as I started forward again, soon after I could hear it start to sing again, I shrugged and continued on my way.

I felt several ropes go tight around my body, I never heard them coming, they were behind me and for some reason none of my senses had picked up on them. My hands were strapped to my sides, leaving hand signs and my katana useless to me. I felt them begin to pull me off the main road as I struggled against them, I'm not sure how many were hauling on that rope, but I pulled hard and it gave me nothing.

As much as I hated to, I called out for help as loud as I could, again and again never receiving a reply or any sign anyone could hear me. I had not felt this helpless since I had been freed from The Company. I struggled harder and that was when I noticed it, there was no sound to my movements. I could hear everything in the distance but there seemed to be a certain range near me that had gone deathly silent. The bird... I thought as I silently cursed myself, why hadn't I picked up on it?

This hadn't happened to me for a long time, but I knew what I was in for if I couldn't escape. Back before I left Konoha I was exhausted from one of our missions and was on my way home when this same thing had happened. Fan girls. Rabid, fully trained ninja level, cult mentality fan girls who had decided if I would not give them what they wanted, aka my body. That they would just take it. Except his time I was blind and they were much better prepared for my escape methods, and tricks. I continued to pull and struggle as they edged me down a side road. **'Please, let someone come before its too late' **I was a mess, the flashbacks were threatening to take over I could feel it. I wrenched and twisted, I was so not going to make this easy on them.

* * *

**Asher pov**

I watched as this strange young girl came running up to me on the street. She seemed rather panicked about something, "Please, you have to follow me!"

"Excuse me? I don't even know you."

"Please, they'll hurt him if you don't come quickly!" I took in her long dark hair and wide panicked brown eyes. She looked familiar...

Flower tensed beside me, I kept my hand on his arm, "They who? Who would they hurt?"

"Asher please!" She exclaimed. **How did she know my name?** My eyes narrowed at her, "It's-it's Raven! They've taken Raven!"

Before I could stop him, Flower had wrapped a tendril around the girl's throat lifting her several inches off the ground the glare on his face, if looks could kill... she coughed and gasped out "Please hurry... they'll." The girl did not even seem surprised at his reaction.

"Flower, drop her." He did and as she hit the ground she put her hands to her neck "Where?" I demanded of her as she caught her breath.

"I can take you to them." She said as she got to her feet.

"Fine but just a moment, stay right here and don't move." I said warning her.

She nodded and I turned to Flower, "I'm sorry love." I said to him as I teleported him back to our room.

"Asher no! Don't!" He screamed as I locked the bedroom door and teleported back to the girl's location. As much as it hurt me to do this to him, I knew that if I took him with me anyone who was involved would be dead by the end of it. There would be no questions asked, no way to know if some of the ones involved had been forced to go along with it or who the truly guilty party was. Flower was very powerful and even I wasn't sure I would be able to stop him once we were in that situation, keeping him out of it was my only option.

The girl had in fact stayed put, she was knotting her hands nervously around each other when I reappeared she wasted no time, "This way!" she said as she led the way running down the streets as soon as she saw me as fast as she could, the girl wasn't half bad. She seemed genuinely concerned for Raven's well being and safety fan girl or not.

* * *

**Raven pov**

I wasn't sure where it was they had exactly but I knew that we were still in the city, even if it was the borders. They hadn't gone back towards the portal gate and the city was a big place, I was guessing that we were out near the larger farms at this point if the smell of cattle and apples was anything to go by. I wasn't fighting back all that much right now, I was trying to save energy for a better opportunity. I struggled now and then to see if their grip on the rope would come loose but it was no good, if anything it got tighter. It seemed that they were aware of some of my usual escape tactics, good thing I had some new tricks thanks to Asher, now if I only had the chance to use them.

I was suddenly yanked roughly down to the ground, so we had finally reached whatever destination they'd picked. On my knees as I was, I knew that struggling right now was not in my best interests. I felt a hand near my ankles and I tried to kick, some one else held me down by my shoulders and I felt the rope go tight around my ankles. Ah, crap. I had hoped they would at least leave my legs free. The one who had held me down didn't move, I looked up but I couldn't make out the energy. So that was how they'd gotten the drop on me, they had learned to suppress their energy.

"No one else can hear you except for us, so don't bother calling for help." Said the voice of a female, the one in front of me.

"What do you want?" I asked already having a fair idea. This wasn't the first time that I'd been caught and tied up by my damn crazy fan girl cultists. That of course had been many years ago, back in my home village. I'd been a kid, the last of my clan, getting caught by them was my own fault and no one came to my rescue back then either. I braced myself for what I knew was coming, nobody would even miss me for another few hours and I bet they knew it.

"It'd be so much more fun if you agreed to it, but I don't suppose that will happen will it?"

"No." I replied.

"Fine then we will take it from you."

I felt the knife tip as she placed it just above the rope line, "Hey what are you doing?" One of the others asked alarmed.

"Oh shut up, I'm not going to cut him... as long as he holds still." I felt sick as she tilted the tip of the knife up, pushed it through the fabric of my shirt and pulled up hard. I heard two of them gasp, two including the one in front of me giggled.

The one from before however spoke up "You said we were just going to steal kisses from him and then let him go." She seemed almost angry.

"Damn it, if you don't want to help then get lost!"

"I… I will!" I heard the girl move, a door opened and then she was gone. So we were in a barn, shed or something. That made sense, it would ensure that this was all out of sight. There were five of them, though now I suppose it was only four. I didn't quite count out the one that had left in case it had been an act, though by the sound of her shaking voice I didn't think that would be an issue. The one in front of me had her hands on my shoulders again, she pushed the fabric of my shirt down off my shoulders. As the fabric fell away I heard the other three girls gasp, the one in front of me drew in her breath sharply.

"Not so pretty as you thought, huh?" I asked knowing the reason for their reactions. While most of the damage had been healed, there were in fact still some scars along my chest, back and upper arms. Most of it was pretty tame compared to the mess of pink and red it used to look like, but it was enough to be noticed.

"Are you sure it's really him?" One of the others asked.

"It's him."

"Well fine. What about the rest of him then?" Asked another, who until now I hadn't heard speak any more than her gasp or intake of breath. Oh great, I thought to myself, knowing my feet were still tied. I guess I'd been hoping that they wouldn't actually want to go that far once they'd seen my bare skin. I squirmed trying to use my saved energy to tear the ropes off by pushing with my arms as hard as I could. I heard a few of the girls giggle again.

"Good luck, we had those specially made to hold people like you." Said the one in front of me. Damn it. The girl from in front of me stepped to the side, I felt her place the tip of the knife very specifically and push it through the fabric. The door off to one side of the room was torn from its hinges, the girls screamed, the one with the knife nicked my thigh in her panic. She recovered quickly and had the blade to my throat, when I heard a voice that flooded me with relief, "Don't you dare fucking move! Not a damn one of you!"

"Fuck! What's he doing here!?" Yelled the girl who now had her arm wrapped partially around my neck.

She was close enough, I quickly bent my head and bit down hard, she wrenched her arm away from me, my fangs leaving tears in her arm from the action but at least I was now free of her grasp.

"I told you not to move!" Asher snarled at her furiously.

"He fucking bit me!" she yelled.

* * *

** Asher pov**

I could tell that if I didn't grab her she'd bolt at the first chance she had, I grabbed her by the arm that Raven had bitten "Yeah, that's what vampires do." The scent of fear crept further over her, the other girls were inescapably frozen in place by the spell I'd used just before I grabbed this one. I took her roughly by the hair and forced her to show me her neck, she screamed and struggled against me to no avail. "Disgusting." I said quietly while ignoring the scent of blood in the room, I let her scream for a few more seconds while I fed off her fear, when I'd had enough I snapped her neck and dropped the body to the floor. The other girls shrieked while frozen in place, "You will all answer for this." I said coldly, a couple of them began to cry but otherwise remained silent.

I picked up the knife that the girl had dropped when I killed her and stepped towards Raven carefully, "Raven, it's me." I said wanting to make sure that he knew who was approaching him.

"It's fine. Get these off of me." I cut him loose and he stood, he looked alright physically, though I realized it was his blood I could smell, I was glad that I'd gotten to him before anything more serious had happened. "I need each of them to speak."

"Why?"

"There is at least one other who is not leaving here alive." He growled quietly so that they couldn't hear him.

"Does screaming count?" I asked, I wanted to make them pay for what they had done, or had planned to do.

"Be my guest." I knew that it was unlikely he would be referring to the two who had come here with me, so I skipped them and went for one of the others. I grabbed her a little roughly by her blonde hair and she cried out. I looked at Raven but he didn't move or say anything so I pulled her head to the side forcing her to bare her neck for me.

"No! Please don't! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. It wasn't supposed to go this far but I was scared." she broke down into tears and I saw Raven shake his head. I dropped her to the floor where she continued to cry and moved on to the next one.

"Leave me alone!" she screamed as I grabbed her hair.

Raven stepped towards us "That one," he said coldly, "Give me your hand." He demanded, she didn't respond so I took up her arm and Raven took hold of her, he wrapped her hand around his wrist for a moment, then dropped her hand. "Yeah, that's the one."

"You want her?"

"Yes," so I shoved the girl towards Raven who caught her roughly. "You four, remember this before you go messing with people again. You were the one who tied my legs up and if I'm not mistaken it was also you who asked '**well what about the rest of him then?**"

"So what?" The girl sneered not even trying to deny it. Raven growled near her ear and then snapped her neck, "That was the one, I'm done. Get them away from me." Dropping the body he walked out through the open door.

* * *

** Raven Pov**

I really didn't care what Asher decided to do with the other ones, it wasn't my problem right now. I gave up on going to the school to get my stuff and instead teleported home. Back in my room, I got some fresh clothes and headed for the shower. I'd be in there for hours trying to get the feel of the ropes and their hands off of me. **I couldn't let this happen again**, I thought as I stood under the hot water. It was time to take War up on that offer of his to fix my eyesight.

I failed to repress the shudder as memories finally flooded into my mind about all the times this had happened to me growing up, my time at The Company, the failed attempts that these girls had made before today. Eventually I did manage to pull myself out of the shower, I was walking towards my couch when someone knocked at my door. I had a mind to tell whoever it was off, but as I opened the door to find Kakashi standing there the will to say anything left me.

"Raven, you look like hell. Asher told me to come and see you as soon as I could. What's going on?" he asked, voice full of concern.

I didn't answer him, I couldn't and instead threw myself into his arms, the tears I hadn't known were there finally came forth and left me unable to stop. Kakashi wrapped his arms around me and stepping in kicked the door closed. He took me to my bed and settled himself beside me, while I clung to him. He didn't say anything, he didn't need to, he knew at this point what must have happened. It was not the first time he had had to deal with the fall out of these incidents even back then. Eventually I passed out from it all, the only thought in my head was to never let this happen to me again.


	12. Raven & Flower: Cute Afternoon

Raven and Flower: A Cute Afternoon

Asher was out again. Not really sure where he was always getting off to but I supposed it was really none of my business. I was on my way back to my room to check on Flower. He had a nearly constant need for attention, and physical contact I didn't mind though, he was pleasant enough to be around. I had gone to training this morning and he had opted to stay in my room and wait for me to get back. I opened the door to my room and he smiled up at me from the book he'd been reading.

"You ok?" I asked, knowing how easily he could get lonely.

"Yeah, I'm ok." He said putting the book down.

There was an unspoken, 'But I'm glad you're back.'

He often tried not to be overly clingy in front of me. He knew that I didn't like it, though I was slowly finding that as long as it was him I didn't mind nearly as much. Asher and I were also learning that Flower wasn't clingy out of a fear of losing us or anything like that, it was instead based on an actual physical and psychological need for near constant attention and or contact.

There had been this one time when Flower had locked himself in his room for six days straight. We found out after, that he had been eating and sleeping properly during that time, but he had looked sick and frail by the end of it. Asher had actually broken the door down to get to him in the end. Even now, none of us knew exactly what had caused Flower to do it in the first place. Asher said that it was likely due to a flashback from his time as a contract. That was months ago and Flower seemed fine now. None of us brought it up though, just in case.

"I'm going to go jump in the shower, you want to join me?" I asked casually while getting a change of clothes out of my dresser.

"Sure." He said smiling again.

He followed me into the bathroom and watched while I set the water temperature and got undressed. He always seemed to find it fascinating to watch people change or undress, as long as they didn't mind that is. I suppose I kind of understood it since his leaves and petals were his clothes. The kind of creature or folk that Flower was, they didn't have a need for clothes at all.

He had leaves and or petals growing out from the base of his spine and hips that wrapped so they covered him, he could arrange them into shorts or even a skirt if he chose, and could produce them from a rough spot in between his shoulder blades that grew into a bra or bodice when he was a woman. It was kind of cool because he could just move them if he wanted to "undress" he could even change the color, well he had a color range of any warm tones like autumn.

He had this look of 'why do you even wear that' on his face while he watched me. His bright violet eyes told me he liked what he saw when the clothes were off better than with them on. I stepped into the shower and motioned for him to follow.

The hot water was nice after spending the morning training. Once I had warmed up a bit, eased the muscles and wet my hair I stepped aside to let him have the bulk of the water, he was a plant after all. I put some shampoo to my hair while I watched Flower soak up the water. Literally, he often got into the shower with people that he was in a relationship with and would spend three to five minutes just soaking up water as it washed over him. I liked watching him do it. He always looked so happy during those moments and it was cool to watch the water droplets slowly absorb into his pale cream colored skin.

He opened his eyes now and asked, "Do you need to rinse?"

"Yeah."

As we switched places, he kept a hand on my chest and one on my back so that I wouldn't over balance. It was something he'd always done and I had given up on getting him not to do it some time ago. It made him feel better, I guess, and I wasn't about to upset him over something so simple. I closed my eyes as I stepped under the water. While I was rinsing, I heard a click and knew that Flower was busy picking out a body wash. I heard a few more clicks and the sound of bottles being set back into place.

"Did you find one?" I asked with my eyes still closed. I only kept a few bottles in the shower but Flower liked to pick the scent when he was with me.

"Yeah." He said.

I rinsed the rest of the soap from my face and opened my eyes as I stepped partially out of the water. Flower handed me the bottle he'd picked and began to work a lather in his hands with what he'd taken. I squeezed some into one hand, clicked the bottle closed and set it down on the wall shelf. Before I had put the soap to myself, Flower had his hands on me and he smiled.

I sighed, "Alright. Go ahead."

He rubbed his hands along my chest and sides, up my arms and around my shoulders, he then pulled his chest flush with mine and ran his hands along my back. I had managed to keep the soap in my hand somehow, so I quickly put my arms around him and worked it into a lather before turning my hands on him in the same way, we already knew the soaps and other shower supplied did not bother him, the dandruff shampoo someone had used once however, seemed to makes his skin crack so we made sure to keep it away from him. He giggled as my hands worked over his shoulders and I smiled at him. At some point he managed to get me turned around, he still had me pulled right up against him and I was enjoying the feel of him while we washed. When we were done getting rinsed off we got out and dried off. I went to reach for my clothes, there was nothing there thats when I heard him giggle from the other room. I walked over to the bed where he now sat and held out my hand.

"Awe, come on Raven." He pouted.

"Boxers." I demanded gently.

His eyes lit up knowing that this meant that was all I was going to put on. He tossed them to me and I put them on, as i saw my other clothes fly towards my dresser he sat there looking at me expectantly, I didn't move.

"What do you want me to do?" I asked teasingly.

He patted the bed beside him, I sighed and went to sit where he'd indicated.

"Now what?" I asked, he leaned over and kissed me, "Flower, we just showered." I complained mildly.

"Oh if I'd wanted that much I would have started while we were still in there." He told me smiling. This was true I realized, seeing as how he'd done just that on several other occasions.

"So…?" I asked trying to get him to explain.

He kissed me again, "I just want to be near you for a little while."

Translation, he wanted to cuddle, "Alright, come on."

We moved the pillows so that we could lounge on my bed. He got comfy in my lap, I folded my arms around him and he sighed contentedly. I kissed the top of his head and he wrapped his arms around me a little tighter.

"Thank you, Raven." He said.

"It's no problem. I enjoy your company."

I felt him snuggle his face against my chest. I began to run my fingers absently through his long, dark green hair, I felt him in turn start to run his fingers along the arm that I wasn't using. I sighed happily at his touch.

"Thank you, Flower. I need this sometimes too."

He looked up and I kissed him, "It's good for us." He told me after.

I nodded and he lowered his head, getting comfy against my chest again. How Flower always knew when I needed this, I wasn't sure. Even I usually didn't realize it until he already had a hold of me. He was right of course, it was good for both of us.


	13. Shadow & Ahzri: Doctor's Orders

**Ahzri and Shadow: Doctor's Orders**

**Ahzri pov**

I knew he'd been pushing himself too hard again, he'd do that from time to time, for reasons I could only guess at.

"You need to take a day off." I told him as I pushed a strand of my long white hair back behind my ear.

"I have work to do. Are you done?" As usual there was no particular implication in his tone, just fact and logic.

I sighed, "Yes, we're through."

He pulled his robes back down into place and got up from the exam table.

"I'm serious, Shadow. Take a day or two of downtime."

I got no response. He left the med-tent, leaving me to wonder if he would even consider what I'd said.

* * *

**Shadow pov**

Of course now I had to think about why Ahzri seemed so insistent that I take a day off. Was my condition really that poor? Perhaps it was more a matter of spending time with my girlfriend, maybe he simply thought that I was overworking myself. None of these answers seemed quite sufficient to me. I felt confident that my health was fine, my girlfriend could come and see me anytime she chose, as for overworking myself, it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. I had work to do, putting it off wasn't going to help anything.

* * *

**Ahzri pov**

It had been a full week since I had recommended that Shadow take a day off. I knew he still hadn't done what I had asked and his next exam was this evening. I had more than half a mind to give him an order to take some downtime.

I was doing the usual look over as he sat on the edge of the table. I felt a few things reset as my healing energy passed over things from yesterday's training. He held the long black hair back from his neck while my hands passed over the small cut that was still there.

"You still need to take a day off and I know you haven't yet." I said with a sigh.

"I have work to do. Are you done?" He asked.

"No, not this time."

"What else is there?"

I put one hand on either side of him on the table. He was now forced to stare into my ash blue eyes.

Just a searching curiosity in the depths of his cold blue eyes. Like he was trying to figure out what I was looking for, I honestly just wanted him to realize I was serious.

I sighed, realizing what I would need to do to get him to listen; and he seemed to take it for a sign that we were now done. Wrong.

He tried to get up, but I didn't actually move. His eyes narrowed slightly, wondering why I had not moved more than likely.

"Ahzri, I need to go." He spoke up.

My ash blue eyes held steadily on as I spoke in a firm but friendly voice "Xenos, take tomorrow off."

The use of his higher name seemed to catch him off guard some what. He searched my eyes I knew there was nothing but openness, honesty and caring there.

I could see the wheels turning in his keen mind. Trying to determine why I had used his higher name. I saw resignation filter through his expression about a second before he spoke.

"Alright I will. It's not as though I could refuse my doctor's orders."

I wrapped my arms around him, thankful that I had gotten through to him at all. Something not many people would even attempt never mind get away with but I had been one of Shadows mentors growing up, we had traveled together and there were not many who knew him better or that he held more respect for.

"Ahzri?" He asked questioningly.

"Sorry" I said releasing him, "I just wish you'd consider your own well being and happiness now and then."

"I will try." He said as he got up to leave, fixing the black strands that had fallen into his face.

"That's all I can ask of you." I said with a sigh as he left.


	14. Nick & Ahzri: Discussing Denial

**Ahzri and Nick: Discuss Denial**

"You do realize that you're the only one who still doesn't know, right?" I asked in mild amusement.

"It's not like that."

"Then what is it like, Nick?"

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. He had denied that he had an interest in Alucard as soon as it had been discovered years ago. Tomorrow night Alucard was taking Nick out on a dinner date and was not taking "no" for an answer. It had been years now and Alucard had been gentle and patient with him. Yet Nick still refused to accept it. Everyone else could tell, even Nick's brother Shadow knew there was an interest and that was saying something. As an Elf, I had a knack for getting people together and so; as a close friend of Shadow's, had been volun-told to speak with Nick. I didn't mind, it was high time that something be done about it.

"I'm willing to bet that if I tried to put moves on you it would just piss you off, right?" I said while I carefully teased the edges of his long, bright red, hair.

As I thought he slapped my hand away "Cut the crap, Ahzri." He said with mild irritation.

"Now if it were him would you be saying that?" He shifted again, looking anywhere but at me. "That's what I thought. You'd sit there and take it, enjoy it while at the same time being totally lost as to why. You aren't the same person as back then, Nick. You aren't going to snap. Besides, Alucard can handle himself and you know it."

"Why even take the chance?" So it was not that he didn't like Alucard, as much as it was that he was afraid of hurting him.

"Because you like him!" He didn't even try to deny it this time, "Go to dinner with him. Try to enjoy it, relax and have a good time. You'll be fine."

"What if he tries to…" He trailed off.

"You know your limits. If he's moving too fast then speak up. You owe it to yourself to at least try." He nodded and started to leave.

"Nick?" I called as he reached my door.

"Yeah?"

"Breath." I told him knowing that he had stopped some time ago because of nerves. Being dead of course meant we didn't have to breath but it was still uncomfortable. He nodded again and left.

I sighed, "Hopefully I got through to him."


	15. Alucard & Nick: Dinner Date

Nick and Alucard: Dinner Date

** Nicks pov**

I was sitting in my room reading. There was still thirty minutes left , I knew he'd be here on time. Why wasn't I getting ready to go? Oh, right because I still wasn't convinced that I even wanted to go on this damned date in the first place. I knew I was being stubborn and at the moment I didn't care.

There was a knock at my door. Great who was coming down to check on me? Probably Ahzri, to make sure that I was actually getting ready. I set my book down and got up to answer it.

"I still don't think this is going to go very well." I said as I opened the door.

"I think it will go just fine." Alucard said as he stepped by me.

I stood in the open doorway, stunned. Well shit, I hadn't thought that he'd show up early. Of course his long black hair was freshly washed and brushed already, he was dressed in clean but casual clothing, and he was looking at me in disapproval.

"I see you're not ready yet." He said while looking over my unbrushed hair and pants which were still filthy from training this morning, "I figured this might happen, so I came by to get things taken care of." He reached over me and pushed the door closed, "Come on."

He grabbed my arm and tugged me forward. I stopped halfway across the room and he let go, continuing on towards my dresser. He pulled out a fresh set of clothes and draped them over one arm. He then went and opened the door of my bathroom, set the clothes on the shelf just inside the door and came back to get me.

"Wash up, get changed and get back out here. Take too long and I might just have to come in there after you." He told me with a glint in those bright blue eyes of his.

I had a feeling that he was only half joking about this, so I glared at him and went in locking the door behind myself. I heard him laugh and move away from the door. I turned on the water, undressed and got in. I showered quickly not wanting to find out if he had been serious about coming in after me and I knew that a locked door was only going to stop him for so long. I got out, dried off and redressed.. I opened the door and took my dirty clothes to the basket near my dresser.

"That's better." He said from where he now sat on my ash blue sofa, "Come here." He said pointing to the floor in front of him.

I went and sat where he'd told me to. Why wasn't I telling him off? It didn't make any sense to me. I didn't even want to go on this damned date. Did I? He had a brush in hand, mine in fact. He began to brush out my long red hair and I felt myself shiver as his fingers contacted the skin at the back of my neck. Damn it, did he notice that? I didn't really mind that he was brushing my hair for me, it was long enough that doing it myself could sometimes be a pain. It was the fact that he was doing it so he could take me out tonight that was bothering me. Several moments later I shivered again as his fingers brushed over my left ear, this time I heard him chuckle lightly to himself. Damn it.

* * *

** Alucard's Pov**

He was so easy to get to in some ways, but getting him to admit that there was a chance between us was the hardest thing I'd tried to do in quite some time. I brushed my fingers gently over his ear and I felt him shiver again under my touch. I couldn't help but to laugh a little. He was trying so hard to deny it in his mind, but his body was being honest. I was nearly done with his hair and there was still about ten minutes until I actually wanted to leave. I stopped brushing momentarily and leaned forward, wrapping my arms around his shoulders.

"Nick, just give it a chance ok?" I asked softly near his ear.

I felt him nod very lightly. I took the opportunity to brush my fingers gently along the side of his face and down along his neck. He shivered at my touch and then I felt him shift away slightly. I moved my hand away, resigning to the possibility that he didn't want me touching him, and watched him lift one hand as if to stop me. He seemed to decide different suddenly and dropped it after just a few inches, so I picked up the hairbrush and resumed to finish the task of getting his hair done.

When I had finished with his hair I told him to put his brush away, he did and then we left his room together. Once we arrived in the gate city of Centra, we headed for the portal gate that would take us straight to the little town of Alrune. He stayed pretty quiet while we walked towards the Inn, and I couldn't help but wonder what he might be thinking about.

* * *

** Nick:**

He hadn't said much the whole way out here, I hadn't either but that wasn't the point. We entered the Inn, it was a nice little place with its own restaurant and a small bar. I followed him to a table, we placed our orders and sat there facing each other. This was so stupid, we had nothing to talk about. I was now more certain than ever that this whole plan was about to fall through.

"How is your training coming along?" He asked.

"Uh, fine." I responded numbly.

"Uh huh, what have you been learning about this week?"

"Well I finally got the walking on moving water thing down, so now we're moving on to finding my element. Raven seems pretty sure that it's air but there are a few more exercises to do just to make sure." I told him as I realized that he had just done what I thought was impossible.

We kept talking all through dinner. He even shared a few things about himself that I had not known previously. Somehow I found myself enjoying this. When we were done eating he took me upstairs.

"Alucard, you said it was just going to be dinner tonight." I complained as he gently nudged me through the door of one of the night rooms, which were offered by the Inn.

"Yes, I did and that is exactly what I intend." He said as he locked the door behind himself.

Now I caught his meaning more clearly, "Oh, oh no. Alucard, I…"

"Easy Nick it will just be blood tonight, nothing more."

I momentarily breathed relief. Alucard happened to be several kinds of Vampire all at once and I had been worried as to just what he wanted from me. I myself am a blood Vampire but I don't do nearly as well with it as some people. Being turned against your will, kind of has that effect. My relief didn't last long as my brain now reminded me of the fact that at this point I was still his target for tonight.

* * *

** Alucard:**

I walked towards him casually and he still started to back away from me, "Really Nick, is this how you want to do things tonight?" I asked.

"Can't we just go home now?" He asked.

I shook my head lightly, "Come on, sit down." I said to him indicating the bed.

He glared at me again with those bright and piercing sea green eyes of his, but walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed, I followed him and sat beside him.

He held out his left arm in front of me and looked away, "Here." He said flatly.

I had actually fed from him a few times before this and it was always from an arm. That was not what I wanted this time. I took hold of his arm anyway, pulled up his sleeve and brushed my lips along his skin. I felt him go rigid as he thought I was going to bite him. While he was distracted I trailed my other hand up under his long hair, he shivered as my hand made contact with the skin at the back of his neck. I slowly let go of his arm and gently pulled with the hand I had tangled into his hair. As soon as I felt him start to lean back I used my other hand to push against his chest before he decided to fight back. While this was happening and he was still distracted, I moved and straddled him on the bed. He squirmed under me, glaring up at me now.

"Alucard! Get off!" He demanded, pushing his hands against my chest.

"Not going to happen, not yet at least."

"What are you doing?"

"We're doing this my way tonight."

I saw some amount of panic creep into him as he realized what I meant.

"Alucard, no. Come on, please no." He said while squirming again, his hands now at his sides trying to help pry him out from under me.

"You already know that I'm not going to hurt you, Nick. Just relax and then we can go home." I took notice of how he felt under me for a moment and I liked it. He was compounding things due to the fact that he wouldn't stop moving, "That feels nice." I told him.

"What?"

"You keep squirming around like that and I like it." I knew that this would make him stop doing it, which kind of sucked but it would also make him easier to deal with. He was glaring up at me again, "That, needs to stop." I said in reference to the look he kept giving me.

I reached up and trailed my hand gently along the side of his face and down his neck to his shirt line, he closed his eyes and sighed.

"That's better." I said to him as I tugged at the first button on his shirt.

I had two undone before his hands grasped mine, stopping me.

"You said it was just going to be dinner, now this. Do it and get off of me so we can go home." He growled at me.

I took one of his hands in each of mine and pushed them down, pinning him under me now. As I leaned over him he turned his head to the side, giving me access.

"Is it really so bad to think that you might actually want this, Nick?" I asked softly in his ear.

* * *

** Nick:**

I wasn't really sure what I wanted, not that I was about to tell him that. I was scared and I didn't like that, but there was something about this that I did like. How was that even possible and what was it?

He was kissing my neck now, my body shivered under his touch. Damn it, why couldn't I control that?

I knew he wasn't going to bite me just yet, he was playing with me, trying to prove his point. He moved slightly and I felt my cheeks heat up. He was back to pulling open the buttons on my shirt again. I didn't stop him this time, there was no point, he was going to get it open one way or another. When he had all of the buttons undone, he slid a finger down the middle of my chest and stomach, separating the fabric as he went.

Why was I letting him do this? Sure it felt nice but… He was using both hands now to slide the fabric away from my skin completely. I felt myself shiver again and I closed my eyes.

* * *

** Alucard:**

Now I was getting somewhere with him. He was finally starting to at least try and understand what his body was telling him. I already knew he was interested, but getting past the mental blocks he'd put up so long ago was proving to be a challenge. I felt him move under me and I watched color flush his face, so he did like that.

I leaned towards his ear again and whispered to him," I saw that, Nick."

"Yeah, I know." He said sounding defeated.

I kissed his neck once more before I bit down. He didn't move while I drank from him, but I could feel other things as it came to me through his blood. Some fear, which I expected, but also pleasure and desire. That confirmed further what I had already known. When I was done, I healed the bite for him and let him catch his breath for a moment. He looked up at me while I was still leaning over him, I smiled and leaned down kissing his lips.

"Hmmn!"

He didn't push me away or turn his head however and eventually he seemed to ease up, "See? Not so bad was it?" I asked as I pulled away.

"I guess." He said blushing.

Now that was progress, at least he wasn't denying it. I let him get up and fix his shirt. We left the Inn and I took him home. We were standing at his door, him just inside his room.

"Good night, Nick." I said.

"Yeah." He said absently.

"Was there something else?" I asked.

He blushed and looked down. It wasn't hard for a Master Vampire like myself to figure out. I put one hand under his chin and forced him to look up at me, I kissed him and he relaxed into it. Finally, I thought to myself. We said our goodnights after that, and it had been indeed.


	16. Shadow & Hanabusa: First Meeting

**Hanabusa Meets Shadow**

Shadow was setting up rookies into groups or with training partners again. New people were showing up nearly all the time now, back from one contract or another. Most contracts were in some state of nervousness, if not near total mental or emotional breakdown. He knew there were plenty he would likely never see due to them being too fragile for any kind of training. There were others who would need weeks or months of therapy before they would or even could be deemed capable.

The one they called Hanabusa had only been here for a few days and they were supposed to be meeting today. It had nothing to do with training however, Yashiri and Orchid were making sure the boy recieved the training he needed. No this was a simple meeting that is often done with new people.

everyone called him the lead guy around here; it was not something he had asked for, it just kind of happened over the years and he had accepted it. As a result he met with most if not all of the newcommers. These days he often met them in groups as it kept things simple, Hanabusa was one of the exeptions. The others seemed to think he needed to meet one on one. He wondered if the kid was a troublemaker or something.

It was approching 9am already where were they? The training groups were all set up and in progress by now. Yashiri had said he would bring the boy by shortly after he had finished setting up the rookies. Then again he had only just finished a few minutes ago.

Hanabusa was nervous as he walked with Yashiri, he knew very little about this meeting. Just that he had been told to be on his best behavior, and that Shadow was the leader of training and the go to guy for just about anything outside of the Village. He also knew from Orchid that Shadow was another powerful vampire like Yashiri & Orchid.

Shadow was waiting by the tree just off of training field one, he could sense Yashiri was close. A bundle of nerves that he assumed was Hanabusa walked beside and slightly behind him. A moment later they came into view, the kid was about average hight, with blonde hair and bright aqua eyes. Shadow could smell the fear on the boy even from this distance. He sighed and forced the desire to feed away; he had a jo to do, and as of yet the kid was not in trouble.

"Morning Shadow." Spoke Yashiri as he and the blonde reached the tree.

"Good morning. So, this is him?" he replied looking at the blonde.

"Yeah. Shall I leave him with you?" asked Yashiri much to Hanabusa's horror.

"Yes, that is fine. I'll send him back to you later." Yashiri nodded in responce and began to walk away.

Hanabusa's eyes went wide, as he looked up fear plainly etched into his face as he watched his mentor leaving him with a complete stranger.

"Breathe kid, you'll need air if we are going to get anywhere." Spoke up Shadow from his spot by the old tree.

Hanabusa had not realized it but in place of a racing heart he had been holding his breath instead. He turned to face Shadow now but didn't look up.

"I'm so sorry my Lord. I hadn't meant to be rude." His mind was racing over his actions and what was going to happen now because of them, leading him to overreact and over think things.

The kid was panicking in his own right, relying on what he had been taught growing up because he could do it without thinking. Yashiri had warned him something like this might happen. He disliked the idea of the kid or anyone for that matter, refering to him like that.

"You can call me Shadow."

"I- That's not appropriate." Spoke Hanabusa his voice laced thickly with years of formallity.

Shadow sighed; "Fine call me sir if you prefer. Just not lord or master, I am long since through with such titles can you do that?"

"Yes sir." He said a little more sure of himself, even if it was clear it was a mask.

The blonde was just as obediant as any abuse case he had seen come back off contract. Yet this boy had never been through the company. Shadow remembered Orchid explaining to some of us a while back that Hanabusa had in fact still been abused; by Kaname. It was well known that Hanabusa had loved Kaname and would likely have done anything Kaname had asked of him. Shadow fully intended to get this boy thinking for himself. Understanding better now why Orchid was so protective of him. Following rules was one thing, but this blinde obediance he seemed to show to anyone stronger than him wasn't something he was going to stand by and watch happen. He had been like that himself once, with Kaleb meny years ago and he had been murdered by the man because of it. And from what he had been told Hanabusa's blind loyalty to Kaname had gotten him killed by the very man he cared so much for.

"Come with me." Said Shadow as he started walking. He lead the kid back to his privet room, he never slept here unless it was an emergency, but it was a good place for privet conversations.

Once inside with the door closed he motioned to the sofa "Have a seat." Again the boy obeyed without hesitation and sat down.

"Do you realize what you have now done twice?" Shadow asked him.

The scent of fear picked up once again and Shadow had to once again push aside his desire to feed.

"Sir?" Asked the blonde.

"Twice now you have obeyed commands form me without question. I know they were both simple things but a simple where are we going, when I told you to follow me would not have been unwelcome. When I told you to sit, it was a choice, but I wonder did you do it only beacuse I told you to?"

"No sir, I do prefer to sit for discussions like this." He stated softly, as if he was worried he would be scolded any second.

"Discussions like this. You are not in trouble. This meeting was set up for us to get to know eachother a little. While I am not going to share my dark secrets with you, I will say a few things and answer most if not all of your questions."

"Most?"

"You and ask anything but be aware that I may choose not to answer you. My reasons are my own." Shadow explained.

"Yes sir, of course." Nodded Hanabusa.

"So tell me Hanabusa, does it still hurt?"

"I'm not sure I understand, sir."

Shadow stepped forward and put the tips of his fingers just to the left of the boys chest. Hanabusa kept his hands to his sides, however the fear of the action was clear.

"Does it still hurt?" Shadow repeated not that his meaning was more clear.

"Sometimes, yes." He replied his own hand moving up to trace the scar he knew was there, faint as it may have been.

"When you think about it?" Asked Shadow as he moved away.

"Yes, it ... aches." How could he have possably know about that? He hadn't told anyone that his heart still hurt when he though back to that night. It hurt diffrently from when he thought of Kaname, but no the memories of the night he died; that was a special kind of pain.

"Your missing some of it." Shadow told him, pulling the boy from his thoughts.

"What?"

"When he tore your heart out, you died but not before your vampire healing has restored some of it. So now you have pieces still there, but most of it is gone." Shadow could sense Orchid watching and listening from the darkness in the corner. He didn't care it wasn't as though it was anything she did not already know.

He sat next to Hanabusa on the sofa, hearing a barely audible giggling coming from where Orchid watched as Hanabusa nearly jumped out of the seat. Returning his full attantion to the boy he spoke up "Give me your hand."

"But sir, I..."

"It's alright, I won't hurt you. But I'm glad you have the presence of mind to speak up." He said as he held out his hand and a moment later the blonde carefully placed his hand on his open palm. "Don't push down, whatever you do." He caustioned as he placed the blondes hand over where his own heart had been cut out of him so long ago.

Hanabusa stiffened as his fingers cam into contact with the scar beneath his robes. Fear, concern and shock all flashed through the kid at high speeds it was almost too much to hold back from, but he knew the kid was far to unstable to feed from. A pair of bright storm blue eyes opened in the corner narrowingly warningly, Hanabusa had his back to that area now so he did not see; Shadow did however, reafferming his own sentements on the matter. He gently lifted his hand away from his chest and let go.

"Easy kid, I told you I'm not going to hurt you and that this was so we could learn a bit about each other. I think thats enough for today though. Orchid would you please take him back to Yashiri?"

"Yeah, I can do that." Orchid said as she materialized out of the shadows in the corner. She cast a glance at Shadow who nodded as she lead a rather shocked looking Hanabusa into the corner she had just come from and into Yashiri's room. Shadow was going to have to feed tonight and they both knew it.

Shadow left his room to head back to the training grounds.


	17. Hanabusa, Ahzri & Shadow: Jokeing

(Short Humor Insert)

Hanabusa, Ahzri and Shadow: Joking

** Ahzri Pov**

I'd been training Hanabusa for the last four hours already. He was doing much better compared to the last time I'd tried to teach him anything, he wasn't dropping the sword every time the blade was struck. Though I was still very doubtful that I'd ever be able to call the kid competent with a blade. Shadow had been standing nearby, observing for the last hour or so.

"I think you have your work cut out for you, Ahzri." he commented as he crossed his arms, leaning against the tree.

"Well now that you have an idea as to the true depth of my skill, you have to admit that once I might have said the same of you."

Shadow nodded, "To think that you told me I was pretty good."

"Of course and you were but I was comparing you to the average level not my own." I said with a smile.

"We'll have to have a match again someday soon."

"Certainly and I'll be happy to put you on your ass once again."

I watched a slight smile tug the corners of his mouth.

"Holy shit! He does have a sense of humor!" blurted the bond who had evidently noticed the semi-smile on Shadow's face.

He instantly clapped a hand over his mouth, I watched the poor kid's eyes go wide as Shadow began to walk towards him. Standing directly in front of him Shadow put a hand on one of the boy's shoulders, used the other to remove the hand from in front of the kid's mouth and then placed it under his chin forcing him to look up.

"Yes blondy, I do. Good job for catching it." Shadow told him calmly.

"You're not mad?" The boy asked sounding a little shaken.

Shadow actually smiled at this, "Mad? For you having made progress? No, I think it's good for you." Shadow began to walk away, "Keep it up blondy."

"Good for me?" Hanabusa asked once Shadow was out of sight.

"You need to relax. We're friends, he's glad that you are starting to realize that. When it comes to emotional progress he will never be mad at you. He's happy to see it in others since it is so hard for him to find it for himself." I explained to him.

"So what I said didn't cross a line?"

"Trust me kid, you would know if you had. No, you're alright and we're done for today. I'll see you again next week." He left and I took the blades back to the weapons room. It seemed to me that the young blond would be just fine after all.


	18. Halloween Party

Orchid, Friends & Family: Halloween Party

Orchid pov

I was sitting near the middle of the 24 seater ebony wood table with my bodyguard Hanabusa to my right wearing a frost fairy costume complete with sparkling wings. My best friend Kaname sat to my left wearing a black and violet Victorian dress suit with jet black illusionary angel wings on his back. Kia, Midnight and Alucard had helped the house out with costumes and decorations. My son Kol was standing by the huge ebony wood doors decked out in some of Alucards old clothes with the man's help he looked both handsome and intimidating with his three black kitsune tails flicking behind him as he greeted his guests. His long black hair was in a low braid, accented by a silver vine circlet. His dark navy eyes flicking around the room every few minutes for one reason or another. Nodding to this person or that, I marveled at how at home he always was in such social situations.

I used a temporary gender change spell just before using my lion folk transformation and took my shirt off, I then pulled my brown and gold eagle wings out of hiding. Now my once long mahogany hair was a large thick black mane with a net of braids and wooden beads down the back to keep it out of my face, once black and gold spotted fur was now solid ash grey with a black belly and white paws.

My costume is my army pants with custom combat boots that the lower half of the pants tuck into, a set of custom dog tags hung around my neck. A large pink scar ran down my face from just behind my left eye down my jaw that ended just above my throat. Of course while being a guy I had taken the opportunity to be shamelessly shirtless. Not that it really would have stopped me anyway, being covered in fur can be an amazing excuse to go shirtless in public. I was snapped back to the situation from my musings by a hard pressure on my foot I looked subtly to see that it was Kaname. I raise an eyebrow at him and he glanced across the table. I paid attention to the conversations going on at the table and realized almost instantly what the issue was...

Emily was sitting across from me wearing a princess costume complete with tiara, enjoying a slice of spiced pumpkin cake and talking to Kaname, or more accurately she was flirting with him. Not liking the attention he tried to get the point across to the brown-haired, hazel eyed teen sitting across from him. Seeing as the girl was not taking the hint and being new here Kaname had no idea how to further address the situation, so he was asking for help. I looked around the table thinking, stopping as I remembered something, why was she even here to begin with? I sighed and looked back to Emily.

"Emily, I assume by the fact that you're here you have finished your homework?" I said not even trying to hide my distaste for her current behavior towards Kaname. Emily's attention was now focused on myself instead of Kaname. I hope she had not disobeyed me... again...

"No sir, I still need to finish my economics and my healing papers, I'm sorry. I just didn't want to miss my brother's party..." She said looking at her lap. I narrowed my eyes at her, just as Kol came over and wrapped his arms around his adoptive sisters shoulders as he spoke in her ear.

"You should pay more mind to what is asked of you, dear sister. You know how father gets when you disregard him like that." Most people who don't know, find it odd how he always referred to me as father when I am primarily a woman. However I had fathered him while I was stuck as a guy for three days I was horny and Kia offered to make it better. As such I ended up actually being Kol's Father.

As for Kol's comment I figured he was likely trying to bail her out of the trouble she got herself into by showing up to a party like this when I had told her not to come till her homework was done. I was notorious for having a temper when it came to belligerent disobedience, or trespassing even more so with the subject of Emily cause I had not wanted her to attend the school in the first place, and had already told her Kaname was not interested in her and now this... two in under an hour.

"If you spent as much time on your homework as you did on your hair this would not be an issue." I said coldly, I may seem harsh but she had pestered me to get into my school, specifically some of the advanced placement classes and I had conceded once she proved she could, but she had summer homework and research to get caught up on before school started in 2 weeks before she could attend. She had accepted that responsibility and now here she was tossing it aside for a social gathering.

"But Orchid I-" She shot off before Kol clamped a hand over her mouth, as Hanabusa gasped.

"Emily..." Kol cautioned in a low growl, gently lifting her up by her arm. She closed her eyes and nodded finally realizing she had messed up. Again.

"Disobeying, then trying to argue with me on top of it and in public... are you trying to piss me off?" I sighed and nodded my thanks to Kol. "Girl, I will deal with you when this is done, for now you are grounded." I growled out voice low to avoid a scene, now turning to Senri who was leaning on the wall behind me bored as ever in his casual clothes, the man didn't even dress up.

"Hey Senri! Want an excuse to ditch?" I swear his slate-colored eyes lit up as they snapped open and locked onto mine, he shoved off the wall and strolled over, hands in his blazer pockets.

"Hn." He confirmed in his own special way, we were used to him and his responses, they made sense to us at this point. I heard Kaname chuckle beside me, and shot a glare at him, I was so not in the mood and didn't find anything funny.

"Take Emily here, back to her room and make sure she finishes her homework, she can come back down here only to practice her violin with the orchestra. Stay with her and help her if she needs it, and make sure she doesn't sneak out." Senri nodded, as I glared at Emily.

"Thank you for coming Senri, It was nice hanging out with you again!" Kol said politely before returning to his other guests, the situation now diverted.

Looking to Emily I said "Emily, go with Senri. Finish your papers, ask Senri for help if you need it; and if you are done before the duet then you can join Mina and Kol in their concert." Her eyes lit up at this, she nodded respectfully and dragged Senri away.

I signaled the orchestra as we got up from the table and haunting classical music began to fill the hall. The table was cleared away and the lights dimmed, a group of girls giggled in the corner putting me on edge as I recognised some of them as ones who had been green and yellow tagged. I caught Seiren's eye, flicked a glance at the girls, she nodded and moved to scatter the collection of fan girls before they became an issue.

Green tags are fans who had been caught stalking people, taking unwanted pictures or spying. Yellow tags are girls who had been caught stealing personal belongings of someone, or something similar. Red tags are what we referred to as rabid fans, they are damn near cult level in their obsession and more often than not are the ones who will hang off the 'target' of their affections constantly begging or digging for a date or similar. Red tags are dangerous cause they are capable of planning traps and see no issues in putting their plans into action, they will also fight each other to get the goal sometimes even attempting to kill one another over it. They are under constant observation by surrounding Nin or Guards.

I elbowed Kaname to get his attention when his red-brown eyes landed on me I nodded my head in Hanabusa's direction pointing out the blonde boy nearby who seemed to be having a battle of wills with himself. It was painfully obvious he wanted to dance with the chocolate haired Vampire standing next to me, but was too nervous. Kaname smiled at me when he caught on to what I meant and started off in the blonde's direction, I watched as they smiled at each other then over at me. I nodded to them smiling back, I watched as they moved around on the dance floor like they were born there, it was like they were made for it. Other couples soon followed suit, Kol being among them dancing with nearly everyone at least once.

Soon a hand laced into mine and I looked over, it was Shikamaru and he well she was currently an extremely beautiful woman, seems I was not the only one to use a gender spell. She grinned and guided me onto the dance floor, I didn't know she could dance? That's when I remembered that Shika had served as a decoy date for several contracts while in the company. She gave out a quick whistle and then Ghost Song by Max Ablitzer started playing, a slow song, the little shit. You see Shikamaru was one of the lovers I have who could not care less whether I am a man or a woman. The black ballgown she wore was like something out of a Gothic movie scene. The gown itself shimmered iridescent blue as we moved across the candle lit dance floor, the neck and arms were tight black lace. Shika's black hair was done up in a tight french braid with black and blue tiny cloth roses with clear glass dew beads all inter woven into the dark braid, overall it was stunning.

The tune changed and I grinned as Shika went to pull away I was looking like the cat that caught the canary as I lead her right into Chopin's Waltz in E-minor. The surprise on her face was perfect, ah Karma.

"Since when do you NOT have two left feet on the dance floor?" Shika asked, her dark chocolate eyes glittering with curiosity. As we floated around the dance floor.

"Since I have the lead." I purred into her ear playfully. We talked about this and that just enjoying the company of one another, as the dances continued. We spent some time chatting with others by the drink table during one of our breaks around midnight, I had a glass of some glowing toxic green looking stuff. Soon we finished our drinks and headed back onto the dance floor for a few more runs. She simply nodded and ran her hand through my mane, making me purr as a warm tingling sensation ran through my body. Damn I had missed having her close, pulling her to me and hugging her. She chuckled and returned the hug until the music began again.

Allure of Darkness by Brunuh Ville filled the ballroom, Kia's used some of her master level illusions to make 'ghost ballroom dancers' start dancing around the real dancers.

I took her hand in mine as I watched Emily wave at me she was now sitting in place violin to her chin, she beamed as the crowd gathered onto the dance floor as soon as they started playing. My son Kol was on piano which he had learnt just for this event while Mina's soft elegebt sang the vocals for The Dark Waltz from Van Helsing. It was one of my favorites, and I knew Kol and Emily had a lot to do with the choice in song. They followed it with Fatal Lullaby another favorite.

Kia and Midnight had manipulated the room around the guests to reflect the songs, as both are master level illusion talents, Midnight specifically was great at lending a dark haunting atmosphere to the room. As the music floated down to us we danced just staring at each other. Celtic Wolf Blood then started playing, followed by Moonlight Shadow, Monster Mash, This is Halloween and various others.

I clapped when it was done and dropped my transformation, tightened my belt now that my fur was once again back to the king cheetah style it should be as I made my way to where I could sense Shikamaru, knocking softly on the door frame to the changing room, there was a laugh and the door clicked open.

"Come in, I was wondering when you might show..." She smirked, a look around told me she was alone, good. I locked the door behind me, grinned at her and slowly helped her undo the laces from her dress. Slipping it down her back and hips with my fingertips I felt her shudder and gasp gently. I smirked and gently began to remove the flowers from her hair, then slowly undoing the braid itself fingers ghosting over her neck and ears when I could. I grabbed a brush and started to comb it out, as I finished I ran my fingers through it lovingly, continuing with my gentle touches down her back undoing the clasp of her bra sliding the straps off her now bare shoulders. I watched as she quivered and moaned under my attentions. I turned her around in my arms so that our bare chests were flush together and kissed her. She snaked her arms around my neck and into my hair, a soft rumble could be heard from my chest as my body reacted to the touch by purring.

One of her hands traveled down my chest slowly and stopped only to fight with my belt, it came off with a soft click as it hit the hard wood floor. Her arms coming back up she wound them around my shoulders and lifted herself up wrapping her legs around my waist...


End file.
